Lung Tissue from IPF Patients Shows Signs of Cell Senescence, Thought to Trigger Inflammation

Lung Tissue from IPF Patients Shows Signs of Cell Senescence, Thought to Trigger Inflammation

University of California, San Francisco, researchers reported that markers of cellular senescence — a process preventing cells from multiplying uncontrollably — are overly abundant in cells lining lung alveoli in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The study, “miR-34 miRNAs Regulate Cellular Senescence in Type II Alveolar Epithelial…

Lung Fibrosis in Mice Slowed by Protein Blocking Blood Coagulation

Researchers from The Netherlands found that mice producing high levels of protein C which prevents blood coagulation, develop less severe pulmonary fibrosis; and the milder disease course is linked to lower numbers of immune cells in the lung. The study, “High endogenous activated protein C levels attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis,“ published in…

Lung Remodeling Process in IPF Includes Both Traction Bronchiectasis and Honeycombing, Study Suggests

Two clinical hallmarks of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), traction bronchiectasis and honeycombing, may be aspects of one continuous process of lung remodeling rather than distinct entities, as previously thought, according to researchers in Italy. Traction bronchiectasis refers to an irreversible dilation of bronchi, and honeycombing to the diffuse pulmonary…

Lung Fibrosis Increases Levels of Specific Surface Proteins, Suggests Disease Markers

A recent study published in the journal PLOS One, found two members of a class of proteins called surfactant proteins (SPs) at increased levels as a result of lung fibrosis and suggests that future studies could reveal the proteins, SP-A and SP-D,  as markers of disease severity. Pulmonary emphysema and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are defined…

Lung Transplants at Loyola Center Give 2 Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients New Hope

After reading a story in a newspaper, Cloyd Goley of Farmersville, Ohio, who has pulmonary fibrosis, felt newly hopeful. The article, published in the Dayton Daily News, told the story of the Rev. Joseph Kyles, a Chicago minister with  pulmonary fibrosis who was able to return to his work after undergoing a double-lung transplant. “It’s…

Enhanced Stratification of IPF Patients Could Lead to Better Personalized Treatment

Patient stratification to deliver personalized medicine has become a routine practice in oncology that may be of great help in understanding and managing pulmonary diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Supported by a deep understanding of a disease,  stratification is a process that categorizes patients into subgroups according to disease progression,…