Respiratory epithelial cells generated from human pluripotent stem cells – new therapeutic approach for (genetic) lung diseases

The in vitro production of respiratory epithelial (progenitor) cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offers promising new options for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Importantly, efficient technologies for targeted gene correction, based on e.g. zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) or transcription activator like effector nucleases (TALENs), makes the hPSC-based treatment of genetic lung diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF) and surfactant deficiencies feasible. A prerequisite for such approaches is an efficient and robust differentiation strategy for the in vitro generation of the desired respiratory epit…