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Updated: Oct 23, 2025
Engineered Lung Tissues Prepared from Decellularized Lung Slices
Published on: January 21, 2022
Antifibrotic effect of lung-resident progenitor cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase activity
Hiroshi Takahashi1, Taku Nakashima2, Takeshi Masuda1
1Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan.
Background:
Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is highly expressed in stem/progenitor cells in various tissues, and cell populations with high ALDH activity (ALDHbr) are associated with tissue repair. However, little is known about lung-resident ALDHbr. This study was performed to clarify the characteristics of lung-resident ALDHbr cells and to evaluate their possible use as a tool for cell therapy using a mouse model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
Methods:
The characteristics of lung-resident/nonhematopoietic (CD45-) ALDHbr cells were assessed in control C57BL/6 mice. The kinetics and the potential usage of CD45-/ALDHbr for cell therapy were investigated in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Localization of transferred CD45-/ALDHbr cells was determined using mCherry-expressing mice as donors. The effects of aging on ALDH expression were also assessed using aged mice.
Results:
Lung CD45-/ALDHbr showed higher proliferative and colony-forming potential than cell populations with low ALDH activity. The CD45-/ALDHbr cell population, and especially its CD45-/ALDHbr/PDGFRα+ subpopulation, was significantly reduced in the lung during bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Furthermore, mRNA expression of ALDH isoforms was significantly reduced in the fibrotic lung. When transferred in vivo into bleomycin-pretreated mice, CD45-/ALDHbr cells reached the site of injury, ameliorated pulmonary fibrosis, recovered the reduced expression of ALDH mRNA, and prolonged survival, which was associated with the upregulation of the retinol-metabolizing pathway and the suppression of profibrotic cytokines. The reduction in CD45-/ALDHbr/PDGFRα+ population was more remarkable in aged mice than in young mice.
Conclusions:
Our results strongly suggest that the lung expression of ALDH and lung-resident CD45-/ALDHbr cells are involved in pulmonary fibrosis. The current study signified the possibility that CD45-/ALDHbr cells could find application as novel and useful cell therapy tools in pulmonary fibrosis treatment.
