“Currently, more than 100 patients have actually received airway basal stem cell therapy!” This encouraging news was shared by Director Wei Chen of Ruijin Hospital during a live broadcast of Respiratory View.

How have the quality of life and lung function improved in these pioneering patients who received airway basal stem cell therapy? What is the complete procedure for treating chronic respiratory diseases with airway basal stem cells? Director Chen addressed these highly anticipated questions in detail during the live program.

Chronic respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease (ILD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and bronchiectasis.

Compared with the control group, treated patients showed statistically significant improvements in key efficacy endpoints.

 In addition to enhanced lung function and quality of life, the therapy demonstrated unprecedented advantages in repairing structural lung damage, increasing lung volume by several hundred milliliters in treated patients.

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COPD Patients Treated with Airway Basal Stem Cells Show Marked Symptom Improvement and Positive Trends in Lung Function Parameters

“Whether it is pharmacological treatments such as inhaled corticosteroids or bronchodilators, or supportive measures including home oxygen therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation, these approaches only inhibit chronic airway inflammation, relieve symptoms like cough and wheezing, and preserve remaining healthy lung tissue. Even interventional techniques cannot reverse structural damage such as alveolar destruction or airway remodeling that has already occurred.”

In contrast, regenerative medicine centered on airway basal stem cell therapy offers a completely new option for treating chronic respiratory diseases.

“Airway basal stem cells possess the ability to proliferate, differentiate, and migrate, allowing them to repair diseased tissues or organs and restore their normal function. This reparative capacity is multipotent: the same type of airway basal stem cell can perform various regenerative functions in different anatomical locations. Additionally, airway basal stem cells have immunomodulatory effects—they regulate the microenvironment surrounding immune cells and inflammatory cytokines, stabilize it, alleviate chronic airway inflammation exacerbated by immune dysregulation, and thereby reduce the damage caused by chronic inflammation to the airways.”

“Extensive research has been conducted globally on the use of airway basal stem cells for treating lung diseases. After participating in large-scale multicenter clinical studies, Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine has adopted airway basal stem cell therapy for COPD, bronchiectasis, and ILD, all of which have achieved very positive results,” said Director Chen.

“As of March 2026, Ruijin Hospital Hainan Hospital has treated over 100 patients with the above three conditions using airway basal stem cells, of which the number of COPD patients alone has exceeded 100.”

“It takes sufficient time for airway basal stem cells to engraft, differentiate, integrate, and exert their function. Therefore, we usually evaluate therapeutic outcomes at six months post-treatment using high-resolution chest CT, pulmonary function tests, and the six-minute walk test. Based on currently available data from patients who have completed the six-month follow-up, most have experienced significant symptom improvement and varying degrees of enhancement in lung function parameters.”

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How Is Airway Basal Stem Cell Therapy Performed? A Detailed Look at the Complete Treatment Process

Currently, there are two main types of stem cells used for treating chronic respiratory diseases: mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and airway basal stem cells.

“MSCs can be derived from bone marrow, umbilical cord, adipose tissue, dental pulp, and other sources. They are administered intravenously. Although they have some reparative capacity, a key issue is that the ‘homing effect’ of MSCs is relatively weak. In simple terms, homing refers to the ability of stem cells to receive signals released from injured sites and migrate to the tissues requiring repair.”

“Taking lung diseases as an example: when lung tissue is damaged, it is difficult to predict or control how many MSCs infused intravenously will successfully cross the bloodstream and vascular barrier to reach the pulmonary lesion site and exert their reparative effects.”By contrast, airway basal stem cells have a more clearly defined mechanism of action. They are derived from the patient’s own body, ensuring safety throughout the process from harvest to reinfusion. What specific steps are involved? Director Chen explained: “A flexible bronchoscope is inserted through the nasal cavity or mouth to reach relatively normal lung tissue areas. A specialized small cytology brush is then used to gently collect a small number of airway basal stem cells from the basal layer of the bronchial mucosa—similar to a painless airway sampling procedure.”

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the airway basal stem cell therapy procedure

“The collected airway basal stem cell samples are sent to a certified cell preparation laboratory for isolation, expansion, and culture. During culture, technicians strictly control nutrients, growth factors, and environmental conditions, allowing the cell count to expand to the therapeutic dose within 4–8 weeks.”

“Once expansion is complete, the patient is admitted again for a second hospitalization. During this admission, the physician performs another bronchoscopy, drawing the prepared airway basal stem cell solution into a fine injection catheter. The catheter is advanced through the bronchoscope to various lung lobes and segments. To ensure uniform distribution and maximal coverage of damaged areas, the physician performs spot injections at key positions in each bronchopulmonary segment. This allows the stem cell solution to disperse throughout the lobes and segments and exert its reparative effects.”

“Of course, before treatment, we conduct strict patient screening, including assessment of whether cardiopulmonary function can tolerate two bronchoscopic procedures, and exclusion of conditions such as severe coagulation disorders or uncontrolled infections that may affect treatment safety. Only after passing the screening will the airway basal stem cell therapy be formally initiated.”

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How Can Patients Enroll in Airway Basal Stem Cell Therapy?

“If you are in Shanghai or surrounding areas, you can directly visit the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, for consultation. The department has established several specialized clinics dedicated to chronic airway diseases. After an initial evaluation in the outpatient clinic, if the physician believes you may be suitable for airway basal stem cell therapy, you will be scheduled for a comprehensive preoperative assessment, including blood count, liver and kidney function, coagulation profile, infectious disease screening, cardiac ultrasound, blood gas analysis, and other tests to determine final eligibility.”

“To save time and effort, out-of-town patients are advised to complete all the above basic tests at a local tertiary hospital and bring complete medical records, including chest CT reports from the past year, pulmonary function reports from the past three months, previous hospitalization records, and medication lists, to the consultation. This avoids unnecessary repeat testing and enables the physician to understand the condition more quickly and comprehensively, leading to accurate clinical decisions.”

About the Expert: Wei Chen, MD, PhD

Chief Physician, Deputy Director of the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Director of the Thoracic Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment Center, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Former foreign resident physician and research fellow in France; visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Interventional Pulmonology Center (USA); member of the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française (SPLF);

Deputy Head of the Interventional Pulmonology Group, Chinese Thoracic Society (Chinese Medical Doctor Association); member of the Interventional Pulmonology Group, Chinese Thoracic Society (Chinese Medical Association);

Vice Chair of the Oncological Respiratory Endoscopy Branch, Shanghai Anti-Cancer Association; Deputy Head of the Interventional Pulmonology Group, the 12th Pulmonology Branch of Shanghai Medical Association; member of the Youth Committee for Respiratory Endoscopy, Chinese College of Endoscopic Physicians; member of the Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Branch, China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics; member of the Precision Medicine Branch, China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics; member of the Lung Oncology Professional Committee, China Medical Education Association; member of the Respiratory Diseases Committee, Shanghai Association of Chinese Integrative Medicine.