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World J Respirol. Mar 28, 2015; 5(1): 34-39
Published online Mar 28, 2015. doi: 10.5320/wjr.v5.i1.34
New therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung regeneration
Masaki Fujita
Masaki Fujita, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan
Author contributions: Fujita M solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Masaki Fujita, MD, PhD, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, 7-45-1 Nanakuma, Jonanku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan. mfujita@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-92-8011011 Fax: +81-92-8656220
Received: September 20, 2014
Peer-review started: September 20, 2014
First decision: November 27, 2014
Revised: December 15, 2014
Accepted: January 15, 2015
Article in press: January 17, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2015
Processing time: 184 Days and 19.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: There is currently no proven clinically effective treatment for achieving recovery from established emphysema. At present, regeneration is the only hope for a cure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this article, we review current treatments for COPD, focusing particularly on recent advances in lung regeneration. This article aims to provide valuable information for developing new therapies for COPD.