Image copyright J. Nichols, Science Translational Medicine 2018 Image caption The engineered pig lung is shown here in its bioreactor

Scientists have successfully transplanted a bioengineered lung into a pig.

To create a new lung, experts used a "scaffold" that provided structural support and slowly built up the lung tissue around it, using cells from the pig that was due to get the transplant.

This was done to prevent the lung being rejected by the pig's immune system.

Once transplanted, the lung alveolar tissue and blood vessels carried on developing for up to two months.

Not only was the lung not rejected, but it even developed an important population of bacteria.

Lungs suitable for transplant are in short supply and the study is a significant step forward in finding an alternative solution. "People wait for a long time on a transplant list before they are able to receive a donated lung," said co-author Professor Joan Nichols.

The transplantation of bioengineered lungs has been tried before in small animals, but these efforts have met with failure. There were problems with the blood vessels and the animals suffered from an accumulation of fluid, known as oedema.

"We were able to make a much better developed vasculature in the lungs... and transplant into a larger animal with a larger lung," said co-author Prof Joaquin Cortiella, from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, US.

How did they do it?

Investigators used a cocktail of sugar and detergent to get rid of all the cells and blood vessels from a lung taken from a donor pig. This left behind a support scaffold made from proteins - the lung's "skeleton" if you like.

Then, they regenerated the lung over 30 days in a piece of equipment called a bioreactor, using cells from the eventual recipient of the lung. A bioreactor is a machine that supports the development of biological tissue. If the recipient animal's cells are used, it reduces the likelihood that the pig's immune system will reject a transplanted organ because it recognises the tissue as its own.

The key to the UTMB team's success in getting the lung's blood vessel development started in the bioreactor was supplying stem cells (the body's "master cells" that are able to subsequently develop into different tissue types), but also growth factors - a molecule that stimulates cell growth, proliferation or the differentiation of cells into different types.

Image copyright J. Nichols

After transplantation, they used CT (Computed Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanning and measurement of gene expression to check that lung tissue and vessel growth was continuing. And they didn't need to keep adding growth factors to make this growth happen.

Prof John Hunt, from Nottingham Trent University, said: "The bioengineered lung facilitates the development of a blood supply and provides for the establishment of natural lung microbial flora."

Importantly, the transplanted lung wasn't rejected at the end of the two-month study. After transplant, the pig's blood remained fully saturated with oxygen although, "the one thing we couldn't really evaluate was how much the bioengineered lung provided oxygenation to the animal" said Prof Nichols. "The lungs weren't really mature enough at two months."

The technique has been successful in four pigs so far. "Given the complexity of the model, the authors should be congratulated on their approach and success to date" says Prof Hunt.

When are artificial lungs needed?

There are a range of conditions that may result in a lung transplant being carried out, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The demand for lungs for transplant is immense and the supply just doesn't match it, so it is often the last course of treatment action.

"We could make a more standardised product that would work much better," said Prof Nichols. This new procedure could eventually help people suffering from quite serious lung diseases.

"We could take cells from people and produce an organ tissue matched to them, with no immuno-suppression needed," she explained.

How far away is this from use in humans?

This advance in bioengineered lungs could increase the number of transplants - and make the transplant better. "We don't fit donated lungs very well to how big an individual is... bioengineered lungs can be made at any time, so patients don't have to wait until an organ is available," Joaquin Cortiella said.

"I would say somewhere around 5-10 years you will see someone actually get a bioengineered lung," he continued. The work described in their paper is a standard part of pre-clinical testing. With enough funding, growing lungs to transplant into people in compassionate-use circumstances could become a reality.

But there are some tricky challenges still to overcome: "What we really need are bioreactors that will support the development of tissues properly," said Joan Nichols.

"It's fantastic - it looks great up to two months, because without getting to two months, there will be no longer term studies, said Prof Hunt. He added that the result was "a wonderful result and motivator that we're working on the right things and heading in the right direction".

Follow Lucy on Twitter.</s>For the first time ever, lungs grown in a lab have been successfully transplanted into pigs, allowing them to breathe normally with no medical complications. The breakthrough achievement opens up the possibility of using similarly bioengineered lungs for humans in need of a lung transplant.

“This is the first time someone has transplanted a whole bioengineered organ,” Joan Nichols, associate director of the Galveston National Laboratory at University of Texas Medical Branch, told Digital Trends. “We also demonstrate amazing tissue growth and development of the vascular system. There was no infection, no rejection of tissues, and animals tolerated the bioengineered lung transplant very well.”

To make the lab-grown lungs, the researchers first created a scaffold which came from an unrelated donor pig. They achieved this using a process in which all cells and blood are removed from the organ, leaving just a skeleton. Next, the researchers removed a single lung from a pig as the cell source to produce a bioengineered tissue-matched lung for transfer. This was treated with growth factor-filled hydrogels and nanoparticles to prepare the scaffold for the addition of cells, which came from a single lung taken from each of the “patient” pigs 30 days before the operation. The finished bioengineered lung — featuring cells from the patient — was then transplanted into the pigs.

Six bioengineered lungs were created in total, although only four animals were capable of receiving them due to surgical issues.

“The lungs continued to grow and develop in each animal’s body,” Nichols said. “The growth factors help the cells to survive, and also help us make sure that when we add each type of cell — vascular or blood vessel or lung-specific cell — onto the scaffold that the cells stay where we need them to be.”

Previous work by the team has shown that it is possible to produce a pediatric-sized lung which could be used in human patients. To get to the point of clinical trials, Nichols estimated an additional five to eight years of preclinical testing is needed. Once this is complete, however, the results could be a game-changer in terms of ending organ transplant waiting lists.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.</s>People waiting for lung transplants could soon be the recipients of lab-grown organs.

In a milestone study, researchers have successfully transplanted lungs bioengineered into living pigs.

The breakthrough paves the way for growing lungs to transplant into human patients, within as little as five years.

The research team at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) were the first to successfully grow human lungs in a lab in 2014, and their new research marks the next step.

"The number of people who have developed severe lung injuries has increased worldwide, while the number of available transplantable organs have decreased," said Joaquin Cortiella, professor of pediatric anesthesia at UTMB.

Joan Nichols, professor of internal medicine and associate director of the Galveston National Laboratory at UTMB added: "Our ultimate goal is to eventually provide new options for the many people awaiting a transplant."

In order to produce a bionengineered lung, a support scaffold is needed that meets the structural needs of a lung.

To create this, the researchers used a lung from an unrelated animal that was treated with a special cocktail of sugar and detergent. This eliminated the cells and blood in the lung, leaving just a lung-shaped scaffold of proteins behind.

The researchers used cells from a single lung removed from each of the pigs in the study to create tissue-matched lungs for them.

After the lung scaffolds were placed in a tank with a mixture of nutrients and the animals' own cells, the bioengineered lungs were grown in a bioreactor for 30 days before the transplants took place.

All of the pigs that received one of the lab-grown lungs stayed healthy.

"The bioengineered lungs continued to develop post-transplant without any infusions of growth factors, the body provided all of the building blocks that the new lungs needed," said Nichols and Cortiella.

However, even after two months, "the bioengineered lung was not yet mature enough for us to stop the animal from breathing on the normal lung and switch to just the bioengineered lung,” said Cortiella.

That's why the next step, said the researchers, is to explore long-term survival and maturation of the tissues as well as their gas exchange capability.

They hope that they will be able to grow lungs to transplant into humans within five to ten years.

"It has taken a lot of heart and 15 years of research to get us this far, our team has done something incredible with a ridiculously small budget and an amazingly dedicated group of people," said Nichols and Cortiella.

The research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.</s>Austrian motor racing great Niki Lauda has had a successful lung transplant in Vienna, the hospital that treated him said Thursday.

Lauda, who was badly burned in a near-fatal Formula One crash in 1976 and later became an airline entrepreneur, was taken ill recently. Austrian media had said he was being treated in hospital, though reports had not mentioned a transplant.

"Because of a severe lung condition Niki Lauda had to undergo a lung transplant in Vienna General Hospital today," the hospital said in a statement posted on its website. "The transplant was carried out successfully."

Lauda, 69, won three Formula One world championships and his rivalry with British driver James Hunt was the subject of the film "Rush." He recently agreed to sell control of his Laudamotion airline to Ryanair. Lauda is also a team boss and shareholder of the Mercedes Formula One team.</s>Two groups of researchers have independently discovered a new, rare type of lung cell.

These cells, which make up only 1 percent of all cells in the lung, express a large amount of the protein responsible for cystic fibrosis, which could help researchers develop brand-new treatments in the future.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in both copies of a gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein.

CFTR is involved in the production and release of body fluids like mucus and sweat, and when the gene is non-functional, secretions that are usually thin become thick.

This is what causes a number of symptoms of the disease, including frequent lung and sinus infections.

"Cystic fibrosis is an amazingly well-studied disease, and we're still discovering completely new biology that may alter the way we approach it," said Jayaraj Rajagopal, senior author of one of the studies and medical doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

"We have the framework now for a new cellular narrative of lung disease."

Both sets of researchers started by trying to build an atlas of the cells that make up the airway.

They analysed the gene expression of tens of thousands of individual cells, one at a time.

Once they'd been analysed, the teams were able to compare the gene expression patterns and catalogue the different cell types, states, abundance, and distribution through the airway.

One of the cells they identified had never been seen before, which they called a pulmonary ionocyte.

The standard wisdom when it comes to CFTR is that it is expressed at low levels in ciliated cells, a common lung cell type.

But the researchers found that this new pulmonary ionocyte has exceptionally high levels of CFTR expression, meaning that these cells - if mutated - could be causing cystic fibrosis.

Rajagopal's team then disrupted a critical molecular process in the pulmonary ionocytes in mice, finding that some features associated with cystic fibrosis – like thick mucus – occurred.

Although this isn't a definite confirmation that cystic fibrosis is caused by pulmonary ionocytes, it is a solid piece of research pointing in that direction.

And this is a big deal, according to Amy Ryan, a lung biologist at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in either study.

"These papers are extremely exciting," says Ryan in an interview with The Scientist.

"They've interrogated the cellular composition and the cellular hierarchy of the airways by using a single-cell RNA-sequencing technique. That kind of information is going to have a significant impact on advancing the research that we can do, and hopefully the derivation of new therapeutic approaches for any number of airway diseases."

The researchers hope they can look at a number of diseases with this new information and atlas of cells.

"So much that we found rewrites the way we think about lung biology and lung cells," says Rajagopal.

"I think the entire community of pulmonologists and lung biologists will have to take a step back and think about their problems with respect to all these new cell types."

The two papers have been published in Nature and can be viewed here and here.</s>Niki Lauda is recovering from a lung transplant. Announcing the news in a statement on its website, Vienna general hospital said the 69-year-old Austrian had been suffering from “severe lung disease”.

The hospital added that the transplant was “successfully performed” and that there would be no further statements.

Lauda had cut short his holiday in Ibiza last week and returned to Vienna after developing a lung infection, the Osterreich newspaper reported.

He won world titles as a Formula One driver in 1975, 1977 and 1984 – with Mercedes and Ferrari, the last two despite suffering serious burns in a major crash at the German Grand Prix in 1976.

Lauda, who also required kidney transplants in 1997 and 2005, is the father of four children from two marriages – Lukas (39), Mathias (37) and eight-year-old twins Max and Mia.

He was appointed as Mercedes’ non-executive chairman in 2012 and was involved in the signing of Lewis Hamilton to the team.</s>The outspoken Austrian was conspicuous by his absence at the last couple of Grands Prix, and only tonight was it revealed that the 69-year-old had undergone surgery.

"Because of a severe lung condition Niki Lauda had to undergo a lung transplant in Vienna General Hospital today," said the hospital in a brief statement posted on its website. "The transplant was carried out successfully."

In 1997 and again in 2005, Lauda underwent kidney transplants. The lung transplant, which was performed by Walter Klepetko, Head of the Clinical Department of Thoracic Surgery, and Konrad Hotzenecker, came after the Austrian was taken ill during a holiday in Ibiza.

The racing legend, who won two of his titles with Ferrari and a third with McLaren after coming out of retirement, almost perished at the Nurburgring in 1976 in a crash that was in many ways a turning point for the sport.

So bad were his injuries that the Austrian was given the last rites, a move that enraged the driver and actually inspired him to fight back.

Against all odds, just six seeks after being dragged from the inferno that was his Ferrari, the Austrian was back in action at Monza - his burns swathed in bandages - as he resumed his iconic title fight with James Hunt.

Indeed, it was only at the season finale at Mount Fuji, where he retired from the race after two laps claiming the monsoon-like conditions were unsafe, as a result Hunt won the title by one point.

Needless to say, Pitpass and its readers wishes the racing legend a full and speedy recovery.</s>According to reports the three-time World Champion took ill while on a recent holiday in Ibiza.

While initially treated for a bad cough, later reports suggested the Austrian was suffering with severe flu.

However, the Vienna General Hospital has now released a statement saying Lauda has in fact undergone a lung transplant.

A statement from the Vienna General Hospital said: “Due to a severe affection of the lungs, Niki Lauda had to undergo a lung transplantation at the AKH Vienna today.

“The transplantation was done successfully by Walter Klepetko, head of thoracic surgery, and Konrad Hotzenecker.

“We kindly ask for your understanding that the family won’t give any official statements and we ask to protect the privacy of the Lauda family.”

Lauda was badly burned in a near-fatal Formula One crash in 1976 and suffered lung injuries.

He returned to the cockpit three races later, adding the 1977 and 1984 World titles to his 1975 glory.

Stream every F1 race live on the FOX+ app and catch up on highlights of any action you’ve missed. For more info on FOX+ click here or to start your *free 30 day trial download the FOX+ app. * FOX+ is available in select territories</s>STAINES-UPON-THAMES, United Kingdom, Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has initiated a company-sponsored, experimental, proof-of-concept study of nitric oxide gas with ex-vivo lung perfusion compared to lung perfusion alone in human lung transplants. The study has enrolled its first set of lungs, and the actual lungs to be evaluated are being assigned for research use, not for human lung transplantation.

The study's primary objectives are to assess the effects of nitric oxide in perfused ex-vivo lungs using a proprietary grading system and to evaluate the total ex-vivo perfusion time of the lungs through periodic assessments during Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP).

EVLP describes a process of evaluating and preparing donor lungs outside the body; nutrients are perfused, or circulated, through the organ, and the organ is ventilated to mimic physiologic function prior to transplant surgery. EVLP has the potential to increase the available donor pool through restoring and repairing donor lungs.1

"Mallinckrodt is focused on providing treatment options for the unmet needs of and to improve outcomes for patients with severe and critical conditions. The company has more than 20 years of experience with and investment in nitric oxide as a signaling molecule," said Steven Romano, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Mallinckrodt. "We are pleased to begin and learn from this important research evaluating nitric oxide gas for potential use in lung transplantation as the company seeks to establish and grow its presence in this therapeutic area."Â Â

About the Study

This proof-of-concept randomized, multicenter, blinded study will assess the effects of nitric oxide in modified criteria human lung transplants via EVLP. It is planned to be conducted at four major U.S. lung transplant centers through the fourth quarter of 2018. The study will evaluate extended criteria bilateral donor lungs, not suitable for lung transplantation. Upon a successful proof-of-concept study, the company expects to initiate a safety study to assess use of nitric oxide in human lung transplantation in 2019.

About Lung Transplantation in Humans

In the U.S. each year, about 2,000 people receive a lung transplant2 â the surgical replacement of either a single or two (double) badly diseased lungs with healthy lungs from a human organ donor. A variety of diseases and conditions can damage a person's lungs and hinder their ability to function effectively, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) includingÂ emphysema; scarring of the lungs; pulmonary fibrosis; cystic fibrosis; sarcoidosis; and pulmonary hypertension.3 A major limiting factor to the number of transplants performed is donor lung shortage.4 According to Organ Procurement Transplant Network data, approximately 1,400 patients with severe lung disease are on the waiting list for a transplant.5

ABOUT MALLINCKRODT

Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and gastrointestinal products. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.

Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release includes forward-looking statements concerning Mallinckrodt's study of nitric oxide in modified criteria human lung transplants via Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion including expectations with regard to the study, future research plans and the potential impact on patients. The statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: satisfaction of regulatory and other requirements; actions of regulatory bodies and other governmental authorities; changes in laws and regulations; issues with product quality, manufacturing or supply, or patient safety issues; future commercialization efforts; and other risks identified and described in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC, all of which are available on its website. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Mallinckrodt, the "M" brandmark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners. Â© 2018 08/18</s>Lung cancer death rates for women worldwide are expected to increase over the next 12 years and the problem will be worse in high-income countries than middle-income ones, according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Cancer Research.

Although cancer death rates overall are on a steady decline for women, the study, conducted by researchers in Spain, predicts that lung cancer deaths among women will rise 43 percent globally by 2030, while breast cancer deaths are expected to increase at a much slower rate -- just 9 percent in the next decade or so. The study looked at data for 52 countries between 2008 and 2014 from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Mortality Database.

Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the world with 1.69 million deaths in 2015 alone, according to the WHO. But while its incidence in men has been declining after experiencing a sharp epidemic, researchers found, the lung cancer epidemic in women has generally started later.

According to the American Cancer Society, among women, the specific cancers that lead to death most frequently are breast, colorectal, lung, cervix and stomach cancers. Breast cancer mortality rates have fallen thanks to better prevention and management, the study found.

But lung cancer trends in women have been more negative. Although new lung cancer cases over the past 39 years have dropped by 32 percent for men, they have risen 94 percent for women in the U.S., alone, according to the American Lung Association.

Lung cancer is, of course, linked to heavy smoking, and to exposure to substances like radon and asbestos. Statistics from Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) predict that smoking rates in women will increase because of increasing social freedom, access to money, and increased marketing of tobacco products to women.

The study also recommends that public health officials and lawmakers consider different strategies on how to help women quit smoking (or, better yet, convince them not to start). It’s the easiest way to slow down the projected trend of lung cancer deaths in women.

"This research is particularly important because it provides evidence for health professionals and policymakers to decide global strategies to reduce the health, social, and economic impact of lung cancer among women in the future," Dr. Juan Carlos Martínez-Sánchez, one of the leaders of the study, told ABC News.

Dr. Lecia Sequist, a medical oncologist who specializes in lung cancer from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, said she hopes the study's findings will help raise awareness about the growing epidemic of lung cancer in women and its various causes.

"The incidence of lung cancer in women who never smoked is rising for reasons that are not yet clear," Sequist told ABC News. "With this in mind, we can not only improve care for individual women (such as considering lung cancer as a possible diagnosis earlier in the work-up for women with respiratory symptoms) but restructure health care policies and research funding priorities to better address modern issues related to lung cancer."

Detection is much higher in America for breast cancer than lung cancer, according to JAMA. Additionally, most women are aware that mammograms provide early screening; female smokers aren’t as aware that CAT scans are now available to try to detect lung cancer.

Dr. Aditi Vyas is a resident in the ABC News Medical Unit specializing in radiology and occupational and environmental medicine.
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston report the first successful transplant of a bio-engineered lung. The lung, taken from a donor pig, was reduced to a protein scaffold, and replaced with the subject pig's own cells over the course of a month.