Gene expression data from two murine tracheal cell populations

The airway epithelium is in contact with the environment and therefore constantly at risk for injury. Basal cells have been found to repair the surface epithelium, but the contribution of other stem cell populations to airway epithelial repair have not been identified. We demonstrated that airway submucosal gland duct cells, in addition to basal cells, survived severe hypoxic-ischemic injury. We developed a method to isolate duct cells from the airway. In vitro and in vivo models were used to compare the self-renewal and differentiation potential of duct cells and basal cells. We found that only duct cells were capable of regenerating submucosal gland tubules and ducts, as well as the surface epithelium overlying the submucosal glands. This is of importance to the field of lung regeneration as determining the repairing cell populations could lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and cell-based therapies for patients with airway diseases.

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