Human precision-cut lung slices for fibrosis and airway inflammation — animal-free efficacy testing on living human lung tissue

Full description

Human lung, kept whole. We prepare 300 µm precision-cut slices from human lung obtained through our hospital and biobank partners under ethical approval. The slices retain their native three-dimensional alveolar architecture, extracellular matrix and full resident cell population — epithelium, endothelium, fibroblasts and resident immune cells.

A 28-day window, in either format. Submerged hPCLS culture is usually reported as limited to 7–14 days. Across three donors, our slices stay metabolically active for 28 days in both submerged and air–liquid interface culture, with comparable values at every timepoint. The formats are complementary: submerged for test items in solution, air–liquid interface for nebulised or aerosolised items applied to the apical surface. Either way, chronic stimulation, repeated dosing and reversal designs become possible.

Fibrosis module

•    Defined pro-fibrotic cocktail acting on the fibrotic programme, not through chemical injury

•    COL1A1, COL3A1, FN1 and LRRC15 — LRRC15 induced in 6 of 6 donors, 3.2 to 19.3-fold

•    Antifibrotic candidates screened against reference compounds on the same donor set

Airway inflammation module

•    LPS and Poly I:C, concentration–response, without loss of viability

•    IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and TSLP induced in 6 of 6 donors

•    Dexamethasone suppresses 61 to 77% of LPS-induced IL-8

Study design. Paired-slice designs — treated and untreated slices from the same lung — rather than pooling donors, so real human heterogeneity is measured instead of averaged away.

Read-outs. RT-qPCR, whole-transcriptome RNA-Seq, ELISA and multiplex, histology and immunostaining, live-cell imaging.

Also available: primary human lung fibroblasts, Calu-3, and reconstructed human airway epithelium dosed by aerosol.

About us. PKDERM contributed the human precision-cut lung slice work in Matralis A.N. et al., Cell Reports Medicine 2026;7:102778, on an inhaled antifibrotic candidate. The air–liquid interface platform is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Programme 2021-2027).

We would like to meet pharmaceutical companies with respiratory or fibrosis pipelines, and groups developing microphysiological systems who need human tissue to benchmark against.