Function Tissue Made From Stem Cells

         Dr. Snoeck of the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology was able to differentiate stem cells into lung cells. This has many significant results, one being the ability for researches to study how lung diseases originate in hopes of better treatment options. These results are beneficial in that 90% of the time, the cells of lung transplant recipients reject the donated organ, and also, the 10 year survival rate for the recipients is only 28%.

         Snoeck did so by converting stem cells into the precursor endoderm cells that then would differentiate into six different respiratory tissues. One of those six includes type 2 alveolar cells that allows the lungs to maintain with air, and also aids with gas exchange. These methods also leave possibilities for patients to regrow a disease-free lung, thereby eliminating the need to wait on a transplant list as well as the risk for rejection of a transplant. In this situation, scientists would remove and decellularize the patient’s lung, coat it with stem cells, and place the organ back into the patient after the regrowth of tissue.

         Columbia University has filed a patent for whatever their specific technique is to retain these results, but it is still under research.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/stem-cells-converted-lung-tissue