ArticleNature2022
Human distal airways contain a multipotent secretory cell that can regenerate alveoli.
Article in Nature, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 214 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
214 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 300 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Current smoking and COPD are associated with differentiation-dependent secretory and inflammatory programs in airway basal cells.Respiratory research · 2026Article
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- Pulmonary fibrosis after COVID-19 is characterized by airway abnormalities and elevated club cell secretory protein-16.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Ageing-associated regenerative failure in the lung: stem cell senescence and transitional cell persistence in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
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- Oxidative stress-induced endothelial dysfunction drives mechanical and infectious lung injury: Therapeutic potential of kaempferol in males.Redox biology · 2026Article
- Activation of ERBB4 Pathway Inhibits Pathological Transdifferentiation of Lung Epithelial Progenitors into CD66cAdvanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
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- Spatial transcriptomics reveals compartment-specific cytotoxic T cell crosstalk with AT2 and goblet cells in advanced COPD.Biomarker research · 2026Article
154 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
28 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The human lung differs substantially from its mouse counterpart, resulting in a distinct distal airway architecture affected by disease pathology in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In humans, the distal branches of the airway interweave with the alveolar gas-exchange niche, forming an anatomical structure known as the respiratory bronchioles. Owing to the lack of a counterpart in mouse, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern respiratory bronchioles in the human lung remain uncharacterized. Here we show that human respiratory bronchioles contain a unique secretory cell population that is distinct from cells in larger proximal airways. Organoid modelling reveals that these respiratory airway secretory (RAS) cells act as unidirectional progenitors for alveolar type 2 cells, which are essential for maintaining and regenerating the alveolar niche. RAS cell lineage differentiation into alveolar type 2 cells is regulated by Notch and Wnt signalling. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, RAS cells are altered transcriptionally, corresponding to abnormal alveolar type 2 cell states, which are associated with smoking exposure in both humans and ferrets. These data identify a distinct progenitor in a region of the human lung that is not found in mouse that has a critical role in maintaining the gas-exchange compartment and is altered in chronic lung disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.