Interplay of FGF and Wnt signaling in regulating mesenchymal progenitor cell lineages formation during lung development and repair after injury

Over the years our research group has focused on the formation of the different mesenchymal cell lineages during lung development and their respective function during repair/disease progression. We previously showed that during development, Fgf10-positive cells located in the distal lung mesenchyme during the early pseudoglandular stage are progenitors for airway SMCs. In addition, We have reported that FGF signaling in the mesenchyme impairs the entry of the mesenchymal progenitors into the SMC lineage both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we have shown that inactivation of beta-catenin in the mesenchyme lead…