A new study involving a type of stem cells from the lungs of transplant patients demonstrates for the first time that these progenitor cells reside in adult organs and are not derived from bone marrow, which leads to the possibility that the cells may be able to help with the rejection of donated organs and with various kinds of lung disease.

The study by University of Michigan Health System researchers is significant because of the large number of lung transplant patients who experience chronic rejection of donated lungs, with rejection rates of about 60 percent during the first five years after transplantation.

The researchers studied mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a type of progenitor cell - a cell that can differentiate into only limited number of cell types such as bone, cartilage and fat cells - that most commonly originates in the bone marrow. The study found that the MSCs in lung transplant patients are not derived from bone marrow, but rather that they reside - sometimes for many years - in the lungs. The researchers also found that these cells have the capacity to differentiate into multiple connective tissue cell types.

UMHS is currently is working on another study involving the lung-derived MSCs that shows potential importance of these cells in lung transplantation. In addition to helping prevent organ rejection, other possible uses for the lung-derived MSCs could be therapies related to heart attack and pulmonary fibrosis, Lama says.

"The specific roles of these cells in chronic lung diseases are yet to be fully defined, but will be an active area of research in years to come," said Victor J. Thannickal, M.D., associate professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and senior author on this study.

The research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and funding from the Scleroderma Research Foundation. The study appears online March 8 in advance of publication in the April print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Source: University of Michigan Health System