A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine stated that stem cell cloning researchers had discovered mutant cells in the lungs of patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), which will most likely be critical targets in any future treatment for the disease.

IPF is a fatal, progressive lung disease in which the lungs scar and breathing becomes difficult. Unknown processes cause the fast growth and catastrophic progression of the illness, although the most commonly accepted view is that IPF is caused by recurring, subclinical lung damage that produces alterations in epithelial and stromal cells, impairing lung repair and promoting fibrosis. 

To explore deeper into the origin of IPF, researchers employed single-cell cloning technology to construct libraries of basal stem cells from the lungs of 16 individuals with IPF and 10 people without the condition.

Some of these basal cell clones were created from lung tissue from patients who underwent transplants for end-stage lung disease at Houston Methodist Lung Transplant Centre. Because single-cell RNA sequencing studies have consistently identified lung basal cells in IPF, basal cells were employed.

They discovered a significant stem cell variation that could change normal lung fibroblasts into pathogenic myofibroblasts in vitro and activate and recruit myofibroblasts in clonal xenografts.

 This study unveils new ground by demonstrating that particular basal stem cell variations become too prevalent in sick lungs, causing lung fibrosis, implying that medicines targeting these pathogenic stem cell variations may slow the progression of fibrotic lung disease.

(Source: https://theprint.in/science/researchers-find-variant-cells-in-lungs-of-patients-with-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis/1580415/)