Blocking a specific molecular target — 4-1BB — reduced crystalline silica-induced lung inflammation and, consequently, pulmonary fibrosis in animal models, researchers reported. Inhaled crystalline silica is the main cause of silicosis, a condition characterized by chronic lung inflammation, and progressive and irreversible lung fibrosis. But the exact mechanisms by which crystalline silica…
Although the immune system works to fight pathological agents that invade the body, preventing disease, certain immune cells respond in ways that can grievously aggravate health conditions. A prime example is a damaging immune response that causes pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in people infected with the Paracoccidiodes fungi, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One.
Researchers have found, in mice with pulmonary fibrosis and with dominant immune response mediated by immune Th2 cells (T-helper cells), that aerobic exercise reduced lung fibrosis. The study, “Aerobic Exercise Attenuated Bleomycin-Induced Lung Fibrosis in Th2-Dominant Mice,” was published in the journal PLOS One. Fibrosis is the scarring and thickening…
Recent research suggested that the hormone leptin is a potentially promising plasma biomarker of acute exacerbation (AE) and predictor of survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This is the first report associating leptin levels with IPF or AE-IPF, and could hold great potential to improve disease monitoring. The study…
Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who demonstrate adequate lung volume still have the same rate of lung volume decline as patients with initially lower volumes, and benefit equally from treatment with Ofev (nintedanib), researchers reported. The study, “Nintedanib in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and preserved…
Allakos recently presented preclinical data demonstrating the potential of its Siglec-8 antibodies in inhibiting components involved in fibrosis in rodent models of lung and skin fibrosis. The company believes these antibodies could potentially benefit a wide spectrum of patients with conditions where fibrosis is a major contributor to the…
Building on previous research, scientists at Brown University report that a trio of proteins work together to promote a variety of lung diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The findings, published by investigators led by Jack Elias in the journal Nature Communications, appeared in the article “IL-13Rα2 Uses TMEM219 In…
Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) recently published positive preclinical results supporting the development of GBT440 for the treatment of lung diseases associated with hypoxemia (abnormally low levels of oxygen in the blood), such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The results were detailed in the study, “Increased hemoglobin–oxygen affinity ameliorates bleomycin‐induced hypoxemia…
Researchers used stem cells from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) to create a lung “organoid” — a three-dimensional structure similar to the human lung — that stands to improve studies into lung diseases like IPF and research into personalized drug therapies, by allowing such investigations to take place in an environment…
Researchers suggest that a certain type of the immune system cell – called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) – can serve as a biomarker to diagnose idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). These cells may also distinguish stages of disease progression, as a greater loss of lung function was found in patients with higher levels of MDSCs in…
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