Research and development of pulmonary stem cell markers / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

By incorporation of tritiated thymidine or 5-bromodeoxyuridine and using them as the markers,we found that the basal cells,Clara cells and type II alveolar epithelial cells in the pulmonary tissues may in some way behave like stem cells and can eventually differentiate into respiratory tract epithelium.The slow progress of researches on pulmonary stem cells up to date has its root in the complex structure of pulmonary tissues and respiratory tracts,which is demonstrated by the facts that the respiratory system is composed of at least 40 types of cells,plus that the growth,renewal,and regeneration rate or capacity of respiratory epithelium are extremely limited.Mean while,there have been no specific stem cell markers for pulmonary and lung cancer,so researchers rely on stem cell markers borrowed from other systems to search for stem cells in pulmonary system.At present,the studies of lung stem cell markers were focused on Sca-1,ABCG2 /Bcrp1,cell retaining marker,surface marker,cell keratin and CCSP.Recently the lung stem cells have been shown to be the targets of transformation during lung carcinogenesis,which has provide more thoughts and direction for the occurrence and treatment of lung cancer.