Extract
Precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) have been used in biomedical research for over 50 years (30 years for human PCLS), but the majority of initial work focused on toxicology, tissue mechanics, and modelling airway responses for asthma [1–3]. In recent years, PCLS have been increasingly used for studying acute and chronic lung diseases at the molecular level, as well as for evaluating therapeutics [3, 4]. In particular, there is high interest in using PCLS derived from human lungs, due to the ability to directly study species-specific effects in human tissue and because they better capture clinical heterogeneity (e.g. age, broader spectrum of disease status, or the presence of other co-morbidities). However, one of the major difficulties hampering the further use of this model system has been due to difficulties in directly applying new and emerging state-of-the-art analysis methods to PCLS, including for example mass spectrometry, next-generation sequencing, and advanced microscopy. The study by Khan et al. [5] in this issue of the European Respiratory Journal details multiple technical advances and makes a significant leap forward in our ability to perform advanced and detailed molecular analysis of human PCLS-based disease models.
Abstract
New techniques permit the use of multiple omics and advanced imaging technologies with human precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) to allow for more objective and comprehensive molecular analysis to bring PCLS closer to the era of precision medicine https://bit.ly/3deBjx2
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: J. Stegmayr reports grants from The Crafoord Foundation, during the conduct of the study.
Conflict of interest: D.E. Wagner reports grants from Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, grants from Alternatives Research and Development Foundation, grants from Swedish Research Council (2018-02352), grants from SciLife Lab, during the conduct of the study; grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, outside the submitted work; and has a patent WO2014169111A1 pending.
Support statement: This work was supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation, the Medical Faculty at Lund University and Region Skåne are acknowledged for generous financial support (D.E. Wagner), the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (D.E. Wagner), SciLife Lab (D.E. Wagner), the Swedish Research Council 2018-02352 (D.E. Wagner), and the Crafoord Foundation (J. Stegmayr). Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received January 23, 2021.
- Accepted February 8, 2021.
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