The mechanisms underlying acute and chronic lung diseases are complex, reflecting the interplay between multiple cell types, their microenvironment and exogenous challenges. While traditional in vitro cell culture approaches have been instrumental in advancing our knowledge of cellular signalling and function, they typically lack the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions that define the niche in which lung cell and tissue functions emerge. Implementing in vivo and ex vivo three-dimensional (3D) models more realistically mimicking the in vivo cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) crosstalk should facilitate a considerable leap towards better understanding lung diseases and thus in investigating new pharmacological tools. We are experiencing a revolution in our understanding of the cell types that deposit and remodel ECM in the lung, the dynamic spatial composition of the ECM and cell-cell interactions during disease, and the influence of ECM and cell-derived cues on lung cell biology. In concert, the ex vivo and in vitro models that are being used to examine the role of the 3D microenvironment of the cell in the lung are rapidly developing. The European Respiratory Society has partnered with Frontiers in Pharmacology to launch this research topic in conjunction with the ERS Research Seminar “Innovative 3D models for understanding mechanisms underlying lung diseases: powerful tools for translational research”.
This Research Topic will encourage the critical evaluation, comparison, and exploration of the translational potential of the emerging 3D model systems for lung biology, including but not limited to precision cut lung slices, organoids, organ on chip systems and hydrogels (native, semi-synthetic and synthetic). To meet this challenge and facilitate knowledge advancement, innovative approaches to basic and translational research are emerging including collaboration with bioengineers and material scientists. These new approaches, based on ex vivo lung tissue, tissue-derived ECM and/or multi-cellular model systems and bioprinting are revealing new tissue, cellular and matrix interactions that underlie lung homeostasis and disease. There is an urgent need to begin to identify areas where uniform standards can be implemented, developed and accepted by researchers worldwide, to facilitate the reproducibility of data being generated using these novel emerging models. The focus aims to explore how best to bring these state-of-the-art approaches closer to in vivo biology and thereby facilitate translation of these investigations with greater efficacy and impact for patients with lung diseases.
This Research Topic will be led a series of invited reviews contributed by the key note lecturers at the ERS Research Seminar and the Editors will welcome the submission of proposals across the range of article types published by Frontiers in Pharmacology. Submissions of original research findings in the form of full papers is especially encouraged.
The mechanisms underlying acute and chronic lung diseases are complex, reflecting the interplay between multiple cell types, their microenvironment and exogenous challenges. While traditional in vitro cell culture approaches have been instrumental in advancing our knowledge of cellular signalling and function, they typically lack the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions that define the niche in which lung cell and tissue functions emerge. Implementing in vivo and ex vivo three-dimensional (3D) models more realistically mimicking the in vivo cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) crosstalk should facilitate a considerable leap towards better understanding lung diseases and thus in investigating new pharmacological tools. We are experiencing a revolution in our understanding of the cell types that deposit and remodel ECM in the lung, the dynamic spatial composition of the ECM and cell-cell interactions during disease, and the influence of ECM and cell-derived cues on lung cell biology. In concert, the ex vivo and in vitro models that are being used to examine the role of the 3D microenvironment of the cell in the lung are rapidly developing. The European Respiratory Society has partnered with Frontiers in Pharmacology to launch this research topic in conjunction with the ERS Research Seminar “Innovative 3D models for understanding mechanisms underlying lung diseases: powerful tools for translational research”.
This Research Topic will encourage the critical evaluation, comparison, and exploration of the translational potential of the emerging 3D model systems for lung biology, including but not limited to precision cut lung slices, organoids, organ on chip systems and hydrogels (native, semi-synthetic and synthetic). To meet this challenge and facilitate knowledge advancement, innovative approaches to basic and translational research are emerging including collaboration with bioengineers and material scientists. These new approaches, based on ex vivo lung tissue, tissue-derived ECM and/or multi-cellular model systems and bioprinting are revealing new tissue, cellular and matrix interactions that underlie lung homeostasis and disease. There is an urgent need to begin to identify areas where uniform standards can be implemented, developed and accepted by researchers worldwide, to facilitate the reproducibility of data being generated using these novel emerging models. The focus aims to explore how best to bring these state-of-the-art approaches closer to in vivo biology and thereby facilitate translation of these investigations with greater efficacy and impact for patients with lung diseases.
This Research Topic will be led a series of invited reviews contributed by the key note lecturers at the ERS Research Seminar and the Editors will welcome the submission of proposals across the range of article types published by Frontiers in Pharmacology. Submissions of original research findings in the form of full papers is especially encouraged.
