Lung organoids: current strategies for generation and transplantation

Abstract

Lung diseases occupy a leading position in human morbidity and are the third leading cause of death. Often the chronic forms of these diseases do not respond to therapy, so that lung transplantation is the only treatment option. The development of cellular and biotechnologies offers a new solution—the use of lung organoids for transplantation in such patients. Here, we review types of lung organoids, methods of their production and characterization, and experimental works on transplantation in vivo. These results show the promise of work in this direction. Despite the current problems associated with a low degree of cell engraftment, immune response, and insufficient differentiation, we are confident that organoid transplantation will find it is clinical application.