Mechanisms of Action: How Stem Cells Impact COPD Progression
As of 2024, COPD affects 380 million people globally. It’s a chronic disease of the lung in which there is progressive impairment of the act of breathing and life. Traditionally, the treatments are designed to reverse what needs to be reversed and treat the lung as damaged.
However, regenerative medicine, specifically stem cell therapy, has given hope to patients with COPD. In this article, we talk about what stem cells are and how they could relate to COPD progression, discuss the latest in stem cell research, and what the future looks like in relation to COPD progression.
What is COPD?
Afflicted patients with COPD experience ongoing limitation of breathing airflow as part of their chronic lung condition. The main disease types involved in this condition are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Exposure to damaging gases and particles over a lengthy period usually triggers the development of this disease.
Cigarette smoke functions as a severe example of these harmful agents. Shortness of breath combined with chronic coughing and excessive mucus production are among the symptoms of COPD that could benefit from COPD treatment with stem cells.
Current Challenges in COPD Management
The medical world considers COPD a disease that exists beyond cure. The existing treatment methods for COPD include bronchodilators and corticosteroids, together with oxygen therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation. The restorative treatments for damaged lung tissues due to the damage are not included in these treatments.
Stem cell therapy moved into the spotlight as an exciting therapy solution that regenerative medicine was recognized to fulfill new treatment needs.
Stem Cells: The Basics
The definition of stem cells includes basic cells, which both renew themselves endlessly and convert into specialized cell types. Researchers use multiple types of stem cells for conducting experiments related to COPD.
- Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) derive from the early embryonic stage where they maintain pluripotent features to create all cell types. At Swiss Medica, we do not use embryonic cells due to safety concerns.
- The example of a manifestation appears in adult stem cells which demonstrate multipotent characteristics and find extensive use in regenerative medicine.
- Research has revealed that Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) begin as adult cells, to which scientists apply genetic reprogramming that gives the cells pluripotent properties for therapeutic applications of specific patient cell types.
Three main types of MSCs derived from bone marrow adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood are widely used for their anti-inflammatory and regenerative functions. However, at Swiss Medica, we only use adult cells (MSCs).
Mechanisms of Action: How Stem Cells Impact COPD
However, stem cells exert their actions through at least a few key mechanisms.
- Lung epithelial cells: MSCs can differentiate into lung epithelial cells, replacing the damaged or lost cells of airways and alveoli.
- Anti-inflammatory effects: because of the chronic inflammation that is characteristic of COPD progression, there are anti-inflammatory effects from this. MSCs restrict further lung tissue destruction by decreasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines and thereby modulating immunity.
- Growth Factors and Extracellular Vesicles: MSCs secrete growth factors and extracellular vesicles for tissue repair (recession) and inhibition of fibrosis.
Stem cells help form new blood vessels (angiogenesis) to carry oxygen to the damaged lung tissues that need to be repaired and prevent further injury.
Current Research and Clinical Trials
However, stem cell therapy for COPD is in ongoing clinical trials and pre-clinical studies. Some key developments include:
- Animal models of MSC have shown the ability of MSC to reduce inflammation, improve lung function, and repair the lung tissues.
- Human Trials: Several MSC therapy human trials have already been done to see the safety and efficacy of MSC therapy among humans. While no stem cell treatments are currently available, studies have revealed that stem cell treatments can suppress inflammation and increase lung function, but long-term effects are not yet fully understood.
These researchers are looking at combining stem cell therapy with gene therapy or exosome-based treatments in order to boost efficacy.
Weighing the Balance: Benefits, Risks, and Considerations
Potential Benefits
- Stem cells can repair lung tissue instead of just alleviating the symptoms of COPD.
- The ability of stem cells to shut down the immune response makes chronic inflammation lessen and stops tissue damage from spreading.
- Early trials show improvement in respiratory as well as lung capacity.
Risks and Challenges
- Disease and Size Variability: Due to variability in disease and cell source, individual responses to stem cell therapy can vary, and further administration can occur.
- While there is a theoretical risk of uncontrolled cell growth in some stem cell therapies (those using iPSCs for example), in general, stem cell therapy is not associated with the risk of tumor formation.
- MSCs generally are well tolerated, but for some types of stem cells immune rejection is a potential problem. Also, there are ethical concerns in using embryonic stem cells.
Stem cell therapy is still in the phase of experimentation, regulatory hurdles and high costs make widespread adoption unattainable.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Stem Cell Therapy in COPD
Multiple research projects indicate encouraging results for stem cell therapy in COPD management in the future.
- The medical field continues to improve stem cell treatment methods by developing inhalable stem cells as a delivery system to increase therapeutic benefits.
- When stem cell therapy receives integration with medications currently used in COPD management, including anti-inflammatories and gene editing technologies, patients experience better results.
- Research requiring extended durations should evaluate the longevity of treatment effects and potential severe aftereffects that appear in the long run.
Final Thoughts
This is an approach to the treatment of COPD that includes the possibility of regenerating lung tissue, decreasing inflammation, and increasing lung function using stem cell therapy. The research is promising and long-term outcomes are yet to be established. Over time, stem cell therapy may have a probability of being the viable treatment option for millions of COPD patients across the globe.
