The lack of suitable donors for all solid-organ transplant programs is exacerbated in lung
transplantation by the low utilization of potential donor lungs, due primarily to donor lung
injury and dysfunction, including pulmonary edema. The current studies were designed to
determine if intravenous clinical-grade human mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (hMSCs)
would be effective in restoring alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) in the human ex vivo lung
perfusion model, using lungs that had been deemed unsuitable for transplantation and had …

Rationale: Lung transplantation is a lifesaving therapy for patients suffering from end-stage
lung diseases. However, the number of patients awaiting transplantation greatly exceeds the
number of donors available. We previously found that intravenous clinical grade
cryopreserved allogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) obtained from an NHLBI
Production Assistance for Cellular Therapy (PACT, U of Minn) program were effective in
restoring alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) in a human lung perfusion (EVLP) model of ALI ex …