Concurrent control of airway basal stem cell differentiation transition and the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition by the jamming

During differentiation of human airway basal stem cells, the confluent epithelium undergoes a phase transition from a fluid-like migratory unjammed phase to a solid-like stationary jammed phase. While mechanisms underlying this process, termed the jamming transition, remain poorly understood, here we demonstrate that the jamming transition coincides with the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) during epithelial differentiation. Both the jamming transition and MET are delayed in airway basal stem cells cultured from asthmatic donors, a phenotype which can be recapitulated or abrogated through manipulation of TGF-ß receptor activation.