“The discovery of this new stem cell population could lead to strategies to bolster lung regeneration and save lives.” -Dr. Duncan Stewart. Image by Stewart et al. CC. Dr. Duncan Stewart’s team has identified a novel stem cell with a remarkable ability to regenerate and repair the tiny blood vessels in the lungs. These blood vessels often become damaged in people with severe COVID-19 and other inflammatory conditions, which can lead to a deadly form of Acute Lung Injury (ALI). 

As described in the journal eLife, Dr. Stewart’s team developed a novel mouse model of ALI, then used single-cell sequencing to develop an atlas of gene expression during lung injury and repair. 

Remarkably, even when 70% of the blood vessel (endothelial) cells were damaged in the lung, the mice were able to fully recover after seven days. Blocking the function of the novel stem cells prevented this recovery. 

“Our study suggests that lung blood vessels have a remarkable ability to regenerate, but millions of people still die of Acute Lung Injury every year,” said Dr. Stewart. “The discovery of this new stem cell population could lead to strategies to bolster lung regeneration and save lives.” 

Authors: Rafael Soares Godoy*, Nicholas D Cober*, David P Cook, Emma McCourt, Yupu Deng, Liyuan Wang, Kenny Schlosser, Katelynn Rowe, Duncan J Stewart (*contributed equally).

Core resources: StemCore, Bioinformatics, Cell Biology and Image Acquisition

Funders: Canadian Institutes of Health Research. All research at The Ottawa Hospital is also enabled by generous donors to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.