VICDOC Autumn 2025 - Magazine - Page 7
I N R EV I E W: R ES E A RC H
AI-MADE GENETIC SPATIAL
MAP OF LUNG DISEASE REVEALS
EARLY SIGNS OF IDIOPATHIC
PULMONARY FIBROSIS
A
-
n international team of researchers has,
for the first time, created a detailed map
of the location and identity of individual
cells in the adult lung, both from healthy
lungs and in lungs from people affected by
chronic lung disease.
A spatial map of gene expression in 1.6
million cells from the lungs of people with
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) revealed
a surprising discovery: some lung tissue in
these patients shows signs of the disease
before significant structural remodelling of
the tissue occurs.
The AI-driven finding could point to future
therapeutic strategies that treat IPF patients
based on their individual stage of cellular and
molecular remodelling.
The findings give hope that scientists may be
able to halt or reverse disease by targeting
early molecular changes before patients
suffer substantial loss of lung function and
develop debilitating symptoms from IPF.
People with IPF initially experience
shortness of breath. IPF can progress very
quickly and, without intervention, is fatal.
Over 1,250 Australians are diagnosed with IPF
every year, most of whom are between the
ages of 50 and 70 years old.
“If you imagine a city map in an atlas,
we’ve been able to create a ‘google street
view’ to identify individual neighbourhoods
and buildings, it’s that revolutionary,” said
Associate Professor Davis McCarthy, one of
the lead researchers on the study.
The study published in Nature Genetics
used image-based spatial transcriptomics,
an important tool for studying IPF and
relies on artificial intelligence (AI)
computational methods.
The team profiled 343 genes in lung tissue
samples from 26 people who underwent
lung transplant for PF and from nine people
without PF.
“While there are some new treatments
that can slow the progress of the disease,
the only current effective therapy is lung
transplantation, which has limited availability
and in which one set of medical challenges
are swapped for another,” said Associate
Professor McCarthy, who co-led the research
with his collaborator Associate Professor
Nicholas Banovich from the Translational
Genomics Research Institute and Associate
Professor Jon Kropski at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center in the U.S.
Their analysis helped them map out where
cells with signs of PF occur, and identify the
cellular and molecular underpinnings of some
features of PF. They also characterized 12
distinct, molecularly defined spatial niches in
healthy and PF-affected lungs.
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