Airway and alveolar epithelial cells in culture
- 1Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
- 2National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- 3Lungs for Living Research Centre, UCL Respiratory, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Prof. Pieter S. Hiemstra, Department of Pulmonology, C2-133, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: p.s.hiemstra{at}lumc.nl
Abstract
Airway and alveolar epithelial cells are daily exposed to large amounts of inhaled air that contains pollutants and pathogens. Local epithelial defence systems are in place to prevent injury, but epithelial cells also play a central role in various lung diseases. The function of these cells in health and disease can be studied in human lung tissue, in animal models and using cell culture. Cell culture offers the important advantage that isolated cells can be exposed under controlled conditions to disease-relevant stimuli, and can be manipulated using a variety of techniques. In this article, we introduce the principles of culturing airway and alveolar epithelial cells, as well as recent new and future developments. Advantages and disadvantages of using cell lines and primary cells isolated from tissue are discussed. In addition, culture of epithelial cells at the physiologically relevant air-liquid interface is described, as well as new culture systems such as lung organoids and the microfluidics lung-on-chip. Finally, genetic editing of cultured cells is discussed. By providing an introduction into epithelial cell culture, we aim to provide a better insight into how these cultures can be used to study the role of epithelial cells in health, disease pathogenesis, drug discovery and evaluation, inhalation toxicology, as well as regenerative medicine.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Hiemstra reports grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, grants from Galapagos, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Tetley has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Janes reports personal fees from Astra Zeneca, personal fees from Bard1 Bioscience, personal fees from Achilles Therapeutics, grants from GRAIL Inc, grants from Owlstone, other from Astra Zeneca, outside the submitted work.
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- Copyright ©ERS 2019