Strategies for lung regeneration

Due to the limited ability of the adult lung to regenerate and the frequency of lung disease, the lung is a tissue that can especially benefit from regenerative medicine. Prospects for lung regeneration have made great strides in the past year. In this review, we summarize recent progress and key challenges for approaches in lung regenerative medicine. With a focus on the matrix components critical for the development of regenerative lung tissues, we discuss possible cell sources for lung regeneration, key matrix effects on cell repopulation, and physical stimuli that will aid in the growth of lung tissues in vitro.