The Effect of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Exosomes to Treat Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Abstract

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a disease that consists of the scarring of the lungs. It is the most common type of pulmonary fibrosis. This disease is irreversible and becomes worse over time. In patients with IPF, treatment relies mostly on the clinical application of new drugs. Unfortunately, these drugs do not repair damaged lung tissue; therefore, these medications only have the ability to slow down disease progression. With this dilemma, stem cell treatment has become a popular alternative in the treatment of IPF, specifically mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSC therapy would repair damaged lung tissue, thus not delaying the progression of the disease, but instead repairing the lungs of the patient. In addition, the application of exosomes has also gained popularity because of their functionality in intracellular communication. There is a need for regenerating the damaged lung tissue of patients with IPF, which can be accomplished with stem cell therapy. The clinical application of MSCs has been proven safe in patients with this degenerative disease, thus this finding has justified more research for the application of stem cell therapy in patients with IPF.