A Patient-Specific Approach to Treating Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Lung diseases are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is one type of lung disease. This disease causes scarring on the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. There is no cure for IPF, and the shortage in human disease models has delayed advancements in available therapies. The study by Wilkinson et al introduces a method to create tissue-engineered organoids that can lead to a deeper understanding of the biology of the disease. The authors improve on previous methods of creating lung tissue by presenting a technique that generates patient-specific lung organoids, which can undergo high throughput screening. Lung organoids were formed using stem cells from adult lungs and alginate beads. The adhesion of the cells to the beads results in lung organoids that imitate actual lungs. The authors tested their engineered lung to see if it functioned like a real one, and they successfully found scarring on the lung organoid that resembled IPF. The researchers also found that organoids could be produced from other cell types.

Given the lack of available models, this research presents a significant breakthrough. The most valuable aspect of this method is that it is patient-specific. The disease affects each person differently, so one treatment can’t be used for everyone. Using the lung organoids, doctors can see how a patient’s body will react to different drugs and provide personalized treatment. Since the organoids can be generated so quickly, multiple drugs can be screened at once. This will provide faster determinations of the medication best suited for each patient. The quicker they can get the proper medication, the better.

This technique can be helpful for not only IPF, but other lung diseases as well. This type of research holds even further implications for the future, specifically for transplants. Patients could have a transplant of an organ that was created using their own cells. The patient would not have to be put on a list to wait for a donor organ to become available. It would also be safer because receiving an organ generated from the patient’s cells severely diminishes the chance his or her body will reject it.

Here is a link if you would like to read more about idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis

 

Reference:
http://stemcellstm.alphamedpress.org/content/early/2016/09/14/sctm.2016-0192.short?rss=1