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Researchers prove lung stem cells exist

Scientists at the Genomic Research Center of the Academia Sinica announced yesterday they had proved the existence of lung stem cells, which are an important target of infection for the SARS virus.

The results were published in one of this year's issues of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which publishes reports on cutting-edge research from several different scientific disciplines.

The project is a joint effort of the Genomics Research Center and the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology of Academia Sinica, the National Defense Medical Center and Taipei Medical University.

John Yu (游正博), the leader of the research center, witnessed the massive outbreak of SARS in 2003.

He noticed that it took some time before SARS patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). He then hypothesized that this could be related to a stem cell's regenerative cycle in repairing lung damage.

While researchers had speculated that there were adult stem cells in the lung responsible for producing cells for the respiratory system, it was Yu's team that tested and proved the hypothesis through the study of SARS-infected lung tissues.

The team noticed that only one unique cell population was infected by the SARS virus.

They found that this specific group of cells had the characteristics of embryonic stem cells.

"They could also be the leftover `embryonic' stem cells hidden in lungs," Yu said.

The team concluded that infected lung stem cells account for the "continued deterioration of lung tissues and the apparent loss of capacity for lung repair in the later stage of infection."

The center is now applying to patent the discovery.
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