Autologous human iPSC-derived Alveolus-on-Chip reveals early pathological events of M. tuberculosis infection

Immunocompetent and experimentally accessible alveolar systems to study human respiratory diseases are lacking. Here, we developed a single donor human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived Lung-on-Chip (iLoC) containing Type II and I alveolar epithelial cells, vascular endothelial cells, and macrophages in a microfluidic device that mimic lung 3D mechanical stretching and air-liquid interface. Imaging and scRNA-seq analysis revealed that the iLoC recapitulated cellular profiles present in the human distal lung. Infection of the iLoC with the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) showed that both macrophages and epithelial cells were infected and showed limited bacterial replication. Stochastically, large macrophage clusters containing necrotic core-like structure and Mtb replication were observed. A genetically engineered autophagy deficient iLoC revealed that after Mtb infection, macrophage necrosis was higher upon ATG14 deficiency without bacterial replication. Altogether, we report an autologous, genetically tractable human alveolar model to study lung diseases and therapies.