Lung transplantation currently represents the only curative treatment for patients suffering from end-stage respiratory failure. However, when compared to other solid-organ transplants, the prognosis after lung transplantation remains quite poor, with a median survival of less than 7 years. The main cause for this high mortality is a disease called Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS), which manifests as a progressive and irreversible loss of respiratory function, mainly due to the obliteration of the small airways (“bronchioles”) caused by fibrosis. The myofibroblasts, considered as the effector cell of all organ fibrosis, have multiple potential sources and their origin in post-transplant BOS are still unclear. Pia Di Campli, in the team of Stanislas Goriely identified the precursors of mesenchymal cells responsible for post-transplant airway fibro-obliteration.
See the recent publication in European Respiratory Journal : "The mononuclear phagocyte system contributes to fibrosis in post-transplant Obliterans Bronchiolitis" Early view