Reverse Lung Disease without Transplant!

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Blue

New member
Just1more: Your lung tissue doesn't have CF. The lung damage occurs because our genes don't allow our cells to pass chloride in order to thin mucous. The mucous build up is what causes the lung damage. The new Vertex drugs are working on 'opening' those receptors so chloride will move across the cells, thus thinning mucous. The point of Cytori Therapy is that the use of stem cells will repair damaged tissue caused due to CF. This therapy could be incredibly useful if coupled with the new Vertex drugs; in theory the Vertex drugs would allow our bodies to function normally and the stem cell therapy could repair prior damage.
 
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CyrilCrodius

New member
I was looking for new advances about reversing scarring and stumbled upon this post. I don't want to rain on your parade... but I believe that fibrous tissue (scar tissue) is there to stay. Scar tissue is what the body produces to repair damage so it is obviously not considered as "needing repair" by the body, which is why it stays that way. I don't think the stem cells would replace tissue that has already been repaired. It could build new tissue, but it wouldn't replace it. So we would end up with a new set of problems.Stem cell therapy would work in cases where lungs are newly damaged and not yet healed. Otherwise, I think that in any case, the scar tissue would have to be somehow removed to create a "wound" that the body would then repair using a process that has been altered with medication to create normal tissue cells. Otherwise, lungs might still be left with too much scar tissue. I might be wrong though... You are wrong though Blue, and just1more is right. Lung tissues have CF. Proteins are produced inside the cells using your genes as a blueprint of what they should be like. CFTR is no exception. Taking fat cells with your genetics, turning them into stem cells with your genetics which will later turn into lung cells with your genetics will still make lung cells that have a wrong blueprint to produce CFTR proteins. So in the end, the CFTR proteins that these cells will produce will be wrong too and those cells will still not work right.You are right about drugs like Kalydeco though. Finding a way to reverse lung scarring would be the next step after stopping CF with this kind of medication.
 
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CyrilCrodius

New member
I was looking for new advances about reversing scarring and stumbled upon this post. I don't want to rain on your parade... but I believe that fibrous tissue (scar tissue) is there to stay. Scar tissue is what the body produces to repair damage so it is obviously not considered as "needing repair" by the body, which is why it stays that way. I don't think the stem cells would replace tissue that has already been repaired. It could build new tissue, but it wouldn't replace it. So we would end up with a new set of problems.Stem cell therapy would work in cases where lungs are newly damaged and not yet healed. Otherwise, I think that in any case, the scar tissue would have to be somehow removed to create a "wound" that the body would then repair using a process that has been altered with medication to create normal tissue cells. Otherwise, lungs might still be left with too much scar tissue. I might be wrong though... You are wrong though Blue, and just1more is right. Lung tissues have CF. Proteins are produced inside the cells using your genes as a blueprint of what they should be like. CFTR is no exception. Taking fat cells with your genetics, turning them into stem cells with your genetics which will later turn into lung cells with your genetics will still make lung cells that have a wrong blueprint to produce CFTR proteins. So in the end, the CFTR proteins that these cells will produce will be wrong too and those cells will still not work right.You are right about drugs like Kalydeco though. Finding a way to reverse lung scarring would be the next step after stopping CF with this kind of medication.
 
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