Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2025; 17(7): 109064
Published online Jul 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i7.109064
Long noncoding ribonucleic acid ENST00000517482 enhances mesenchymal stem cell therapy against acute lung injury
Yan Zhou, Bo-Tao Xu, Hai-Ying Zhou, Zhong-Tu Shang
Yan Zhou, Hai-Ying Zhou, Zhong-Tu Shang, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Zhuji People’s Hospital, Zhuji 311800, Zhejiang Province, China
Bo-Tao Xu, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Zhuji People’s Hospital, Zhuji 311800, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Zhou Y contributed to the conceptualization, writing, reviewing and editing; Xu BT and Zhou HY participated in the conceptualization and writing of the original draft; Shang ZT was involved in the formal analysis and validation. All authors participated in drafting the manuscript and all have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan Zhou, MD, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Zhuji People’s Hospital, No. 9 Jianmin Road, Taozhu Street, Zhuji 311800, Zhejiang Province, China. 13606850272@163.com
Received: April 29, 2025
Revised: May 17, 2025
Accepted: July 1, 2025
Published online: July 26, 2025
Processing time: 87 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Long non-coding RNA ENST00000517482 enhances the survival of mesenchymal stem cells by protecting mitochondria from apoptosis through the microRNA-539 and c-MYC signaling axis. While this mechanism strengthens stem cell paracrine effects in vitro, its simultaneous activation of autophagy poses potential risks of aggravating lung tissue injury in living organisms. Furthermore, conventional systemic infusion of mesenchymal stem cells results in limited therapeutic efficiency due to poor lung targeting. This article emphasizes the importance of controlling autophagy levels and adopting extracellular vesicle-based delivery systems as critical steps to translate ENST00000517482-mediated stem cell therapies into safe and effective treatments for acute lung injury.