With less swelling the space to actually move air hopefully becomes bigger again. ![]() The main way in which researchers and patients have hoped that stem cell therapy for COPD might work is by reducing the inflammation that shrinks the airways. Compared to the normal lung tissue, there isn’t much space for air and for air to interact with the tiny blood vessels of the thin walls of the lung. In COPD the lung tissue is swollen and sometimes damaged. You can see histological images above of healthy and COPD lung tissue appearance. Imagine trying to breathe air through a snorkel and the snorkel keeps getting a little smaller. The swelling and inflammation make the airspaces smaller so it’s harder to breathe. It is a chronic, often progressive disease in which the respiratory system has less capacity in part because it is inflamed and damaged. Chronic bronchitis also can be part of COPD either alone or together with emphysema. Sometimes the tiny structures called alveoli that define the smallest airspaces in the lungs can also be damaged or destroyed such as in emphysema, a disease that falls under the broader COPD umbrella. The full name is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Īs its full name suggests, the airways can be obstructed in COPD. What is COPD?ĬOPD is a group of respiratory diseases, often but not always associated with smoking. They can be very helpful but mainly treat the symptoms even as the disease sometimes progresses.Ĭould stem cells or other cell therapies help COPD in a new, more effective way? Possibly but there’s a lot of hype in this area so caution is needed and tough obstacles.Īlong with the challenges to making a successful stem cell therapy for COPD comes some hope. ![]() Sections stained with H&E.Ĭurrent treatments for COPD include inhaled steroids and bronchodilators. What is COPD? | How might stem cells help COPD? | Challenges to this approach | Inhaled cells | What cells to use? | Cost of stem cell therapy for COPD $5,000-$10,000 | Future Perspectives | References Normal and COPD lung tissue (left and right, respectively). Let’s clear things up as to where the biomedical science stands today. There is a lot of misinformation out there in this space. As long as I’ve been writing The Niche as a professor here at UC Davis School of Medicine, people have been asking me about stem cell therapy for COPD.
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