Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have shown that adult stem cells from bone marrow can prevent acute lung injury in a mouse model of the disease. Their results are reported online in the October issue of the journal Stem Cells. Acute lung injury (ALI) is responsible for an estimated 74,500 deaths in the U.S. each year. ALI can be caused by any major inflammation or injury to the lungs and is a major cause of death in patients in hospital ICUs. There is no effective drug treatment. In ALI, the layer of cells that forms the lining of the blood vessels surrounding the lung's air sacs is damaged, allowing fluid to leak in and fill the sacs. Repair of these breaks in the endothelium, or lining, is complicated by the fact that endothelial cells are long-lived, says Kishore Wary, UIC assistant professor of pharmacology and lead author of the study. Turnover of new cells takes as long as two to five years, and few of the precursor cells needed for replacement circulate in the body at any given time. "The stem cells that might be able repair the damage caused by ALI are simply not on hand," he said.
Link