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Drugs targeting a pathway centered on a molecule named PI3K and a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) — another molecule in the same pathway — are in early, preclinical tests in a variety of disease conditions, and recently completed a Phase 1 cancer trial. A study from University College London  also found that…

Scientists from the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, reported findings from the first year of a national registry of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients (IPF), which showed that Swedish IPF patients have a poor quality of life and poor perception of their disease — despite a relatively modest level of disease severity.

A case report of a woman with pulmonary fibrosis and a rare telomere mutation raised the possibility that telomere-associated fibrosis can be observed without shortened telomeres. The study, “TINF2 Gene Mutation in a Patient with Pulmonary Fibrosis“, published in the journal Case Reports in Pulmonology, proposed that…

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, and other institutions applied an integrative genomic approach to study chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) to uncover the possible shared biological mechanisms in the two disorders. Findings suggested a common genetic network to the…

Researchers at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, found that CD248 — a surface marker expressed on fibroblast cells in the lung — might also serve as a marker of disease severity in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The findings also indicate that CD248 might be a suitable…

Researchers at the University of Southampton used an advanced, 3-D X-ray imaging technology for a first time on lung tissue samples from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients, gaining a better understanding of how the aggressive lung disease develops in the body. The study, “Three-dimensional characterization of fibroblast foci in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis” was published…

Karos Pharmaceuticals recently announced that its small molecule drug candidate, KAR5585, has advanced in Phase 1 clinical testing. The drug is being developed for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other diseases characterized by extensive fibrosis. KAR5585 received Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of PAH by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration…

Japanese researchers reported that treatment with thrombomodu­lin, an anti-clotting factor naturally produced in the body, reduced mortality in patients experiencing acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The findings also suggested that abnormal blood clotting may contribute to poor outcomes following these flares. Thrombomodu­lin is a factor crucial for controlling the blood-clotting…

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers demonstrated that the smallpox vaccine may reverse established lung fibrosis in mice. The vaccine changed the reactivity of various types of immune T-cells, suggesting that balancing the actions of these immune players could be crucial in developing immunotherapeutic treatments for lung fibrosis. Scientists have known for some…

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that M10, a naturally occurring small peptide, appeared to effectively reduce lung fibrosis in a mouse model of systemic sclerosis, a finding that might lead the way to new treatments for lung fibrosis. Systemic sclerosis can be viewed as the archetypal fibrotic disease,…