Introduction for special issue “Epithelial regeneration in inflammatory diseases”

Abstract

Epithelial cells constitute the tissue structure and also play indispensable roles in various organs, including skin, lung, and the digestive tract. Besides acquiring tissue-specific functions, their common and most important role is to serve as a physical barrier between inner- and outer- environment. Upon inflammation of its resident tissue, the continuous structure of the epithelial layer is often disrupted, which results in loss of static environment in inner side of the tissue. Such a change in the inner environment may act as a key event to drive further exacerbation and persistence of the local inflammation. Thus, proper regeneration to restore the continuity of the epithelial layer is a prerequisite to give an end to the initiated inflammation. In this special issue, we would like to overview what we now know about how tissue regeneration is executed in various tissues, under inflammatory environment. Further studies may reveal how the inflammatory environment, both at cellular and molecular level, modulates tissue regeneration and give the basis for the establishment of therapeutic approach directed to tissue regeneration in various inflammatory diseases.