Stem Cell Research-- Where Are We With Chronic Lung Disease?

This week, I  planned to focus on how we can clear our physical, mental and emotional space to allow for new ideas and habits. 

But I became fascinated by a post on Bronchiectasis/NTM Info & Research’s online messageboard by bronchi-sis Mary. It’s about stem cell research which holds many possibilities once the technology is perfected. 

And, maybe it’s a stretch, but, its potentially about removing organs that are no longer able to do their job and replacing them with new ones created from our stem cells.  So that is sort of, “out with the one, and in with the new,” isn’t it?

At a National Jewish Health fundraiser I attended in May, Dr. Greg Downey spoke about cutting-edge research including stem cell therapy. He said:

“Currently, we have the technology that we can reproduce most of a lung structure in a culture dish we can get using cells called stem cells, which we can purify from skin or from adipose tissue, we can manipulate them and give them patterns that will actually instruct them to form branching airways or air sacs. 

We do that every day. The key is, how do you get those cells in that test tube or petri dish back into a person in a way that that organ functions? This is really the key right now and then we and other groups are working hard on this. 

You first have to create a structure, like a scaffolding. It's called the extracellular matrix, kind of like the framework of a building. That is something that we and others have been working hard on. 

We're still not putting that into humans yet because we're not quite ready, but it's getting closer.

 But I will also just say that other groups have tried some of this stuff and done it too early, and there were some catastrophic failures. 

For example, tracheal replacement done in Sweden. It was done before the technology was ready, and virtually 100% death rate after a couple of months. So we have to, we have to be extremely careful that this is well thought out and tested, but it is moving quickly.”

Exciting research! Let’s continue to watch it closely. 🫁🫁🫁

Have a listen to Dr Downey's talk.


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