Lung stem cells of COVID-19 patients repairs damaged alveolar cells
Lung stem cells of COVID-19 patients repairs damaged alveolar cells
Lung stem cells of COVID-19 patients repairs damaged alveolar cells. A research team led by Professor Zuo Wei from the School of Medicine of Tongji University in China revealed the possible regenerative and repair mechanism of stem cells in the lungs of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Related research papers have been published in the journal Cell Proliferation.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the Zuo Wei research team used single-cell RNA sequencing analysis technology to analyze and compare the cell composition of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in patients with mild and severe symptoms of COVID-19 and healthy people.
The results showed that compared with patients with mild symptoms and healthy people, there were significantly more lung stem cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of severe patients, which were TM4SF1 positive and KRT5 positive.
Further studies have shown that TM4SF1-positive stem cells in the lungs of severe patients have a higher proportion of co-expressing mature alveolar cell markers, which reveals that the positive stem cells may be involved in the regeneration and repair of alveoli.
In order to study the role of KRT5-positive stem cells in the lungs of patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 pneumonia, the team transplanted the cultured stem cells into the lungs of mice with lung injury.
The results of the study showed that transplanted KRT5-positive stem cells can differentiate into alveolar barrier cells (ABCs), repair broken alveolar barrier cells, and avoid immune cell infiltration. Further studies have shown that there is more regeneration of alveolar barrier cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of severe patients.
After further research, it was found that KRT5-positive stem cells were stimulated by hypoxia after the alveolar structure was damaged, thereby regulating their differentiation to the alveolar barrier cells and repairing the damaged structure.
In summary, after infection with COVID-19 pneumonia, two groups of lung stem cells will be significantly increased in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of severe patients. One kind of KRT5-positive stem cells will differentiate into alveolar barrier cells to repair the damaged structure, and the other TM4SF1-positive stem cells It will regenerate functional alveolar cells.
The two types of lung stem cells can act synergistically under acute injury to complete the repair and regeneration of alveolar tissue structure. This study is instructive for the subsequent use of stem cells to treat patients with COVID-19s, and the treatment of viral pneumonia from the etiology of tissue regeneration and repair.
