Immune cells could offer new avenues for treating respiratory diseases

Immune cells could offer new avenues for treating respiratory diseases - Credit: Marko Nikolic & Jo Barnes/UCL. Healthy lung development hinges on communication between immune cells and cells that line the airways, according to new research from UCL and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, with implications for the treatment of respiratory diseases. The study, published in Science Immunology , has created a first-of-its-kind immune cell atlas of the developing lung,revealing coordination between the immune and respiratory systems much earlier in development than previously thought. This discovery raises questions about the potential role of immune cells in other developing organs across the body and offers new insights for understanding and treating respiratory conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Globally, respiratory conditions account for almost 20 per cent of all deaths in children under the age of five. In this study, researchers from UCL, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute used advanced single-cell technologies to map the development of early foetal human lung immune cells over time. Immune cells make up a substantial portion of the airways and mature lungs, which have critical gas exchange and barrier function, providing protection against infection of the respiratory tract.