The renewal of lung epithelial cells is normally slow unless the lung is injured. The resident epithelial stem cells rapidly proliferate and differentiate to maintain lung structure and function when the lung is damaged. The alveolar epithelium is characterized by alveolar type 1 (AT1) and alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells. AT2 cells are the stem cells for alveoli, as they can both self-renew and generate AT1 cells. Abnormal proliferation and regulation of AT2 cells will lead to serious lung diseases including cancers. In this review, we focused on the alveolar stem/progenitor cells, the key physiological function of AT2 cells in lung homeostasis and the complicated regulation of AT2 cells in the repairing processes after lung injury.

中文翻译：

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肺泡2型干/祖细胞在肺损伤和再生中的调节。

除非肺受到损伤，否则肺上皮细胞的更新通常缓慢。当肺部受损时，常驻上皮干细胞迅速增殖并分化以维持肺部结构和功能。肺泡上皮的特征在于1型肺泡（AT1）和2型肺泡（AT2）细胞。AT2细胞是肺泡的干细胞，因为它们既可以自我更新又可以生成AT1细胞。AT2细胞的异常增殖和调节将导致严重的肺部疾病，包括癌症。在这篇综述中，我们着眼于肺泡干/祖细胞，肺稳态中AT2细胞的关键生理功能以及肺损伤后修复过程中AT2细胞的复杂调控。