Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40676836›Full record

ArticleMolecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy2025

GDF11-secreting cell transplant efficiently ameliorates age-related pulmonary fibrosis.

Li Guo, Pascal Duchesneau, Eric D Jong, Evan Sawula, Chengjin Li, Thomas K Waddell, Andras Nagy

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. GDF11: A promising new drug target for pulmonary fibrosis?Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Li GuoLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON M5T 3H7, Canada.
Pascal DuchesneauDivision of Thoracic Surgery, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada.
Eric D JongLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON M5T 3H7, Canada.
Evan SawulaLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON M5T 3H7, Canada.
Chengjin LiLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON M5T 3H7, Canada.
Thomas K WaddellDivision of Thoracic Surgery, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H2, Canada.
Andras NagyLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON M5T 3H7, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H2, Canada; Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1E2, Canada. Electronic address: nagy@lunenfeld.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Here, we present a combination of cell and gene therapy that harnesses the regenerative properties of GDF11 in age-related pulmonary fibrosis. Our genome-edited SafeCell-GDF11 mouse embryonic stem cell line provides controlled proliferation and efficient derivation to lung progenitors while inducibly expressing GDF11. When these cells were transplanted into bleomycin-injured aged mice, they acted as a source of reparative cells, restoring the damaged alveolar epithelium. Furthermore, the transplanted cells acted as an "in situ factory," enabling the production of GDF11 in response to the inducer drug. This approach attenuated age-associated senescence and led to the successful resolution of fibrosis. Our study presents a GDF11-expressing cell-based strategy that demonstrates the feasibility of promoting alveolar regeneration in a mouse model of age-related pulmonary fibrosis. Additionally, this approach offers a versatile tool that can be expanded to incorporate other regenerative and anti-aging factors. This helps overcome limitations such as high production costs and a short half-life of therapeutic factors. One of the strengths of our system is its ability to allow precise regulation of factor expression when needed to address specific aging phenotypes.

Indexed as

AgingBone Morphogenetic ProteinsGrowth Differentiation FactorsPulmonary FibrosisAnimalsBleomycinDisease Models, AnimalHumansMiceMouse Embryonic Stem CellsBleomycinBone Morphogenetic ProteinsGdf11 protein, mouseGrowth Differentiation Factorsalveolar regenerationcell and gene therapyfibrosis resolutionGDF11idiopathic pulmonary fibrosisinducible expressionlung progenitorspluripotent stem cellsSafeCell genome editingsenescence attenuation

Identifiers

PMID40676836
PMCPMC12848227

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.