Pulmonary Cell Biology

The purpose of this review is to relate developments in lung cell biology to our understanding and treatment of pulmonary diseases. The authors’ careers in pulmonary biology began when we came to the Heart Institute of the National Institutes of Health in 1968 (R.J.M.) and 1970 (R.G.C.). This was before the creation of the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in 1973. At that time, there was also no active basic or clinical investigation of pulmonary disease in the intramural Heart Institute at NIH. The focus of the pulmonary investigation had been on tuberculosis and had turned to pulmonary physiology, and investigations of pulmonary cell biology were just beginning. This review will focus on surfactant and alveolar type II cell biology and on the molecular basis of a 1-antitrypsin ( a 1AT) deficiency. The type II cell has been chosen to represent advances in cell biology and a 1AT to represent advances in genetics and molecular biology. These recollections highlight the collaboration and achievements in the intramural and extramural programs of the NHLBI.