Development of Lung Epithelium from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Abstract Considerable progress has been made in the field of in vitro development of alveolar epithelium from induced pluripotent stem cells. Patient specific derived alveolar cells could potentially populate tissue engineered lungs, provide a cell source for drug testing, or function as a model for research into lung diseases. Induced to pluripotency through a variety of techniques, stem cells can be differentiated to alveolar epithelium through exposure to a variety of different culture conditions and growth media. The ultimate success of differentiated cells for translational medicine applications will depend on further advances in the understanding of the human lung developmental pathway, and successful application to in vitro culture. This review will focus on the major signaling pathways and molecules in lung development and the existing protocol for directed differentiation of iPSC and hESC to cells resembling respiratory epithelium in vitro.
Source: Current Transplantation Reports - Category: Transplant Surgery Source Type: research