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10-11-2011, 02:23 PM
Med Page Today
Lab Notes: Kinase Target in Lung Fibrosis
By MedPage Today Staff
Published: October 07, 2011
Blocking Lung Fibrosis
A kinase pathway may represent a target for therapies to treat lung fibrosis, experiments in mice showed.
Researchers from the University of California San Diego and the San Diego VA Healthcare Center induced lung fibrosis in mice using bleomycin, a chemotherapeutic agent with that well-known side effect.
They discovered that RSK phosphorylation of the C/EBP-beta binding protein appeared to be involved in the lung injury. Blocking the phosphorylation with a single point mutation, a dominant negative transgene, or a blocking peptide reduced the progression of lung fibrosis in the mice.
Other experiments showed that a similar process may also be occurring in human lung injury and fibrosis.
In their paper in PLoS ONE, the researchers noted that there is no effective treatment for lung fibrosis, but that it is too early to tell whether this pathway could be a possible target for new therapies.
"Both lack of progression of lung fibrosis, as we documented in our study, as well as regression of lung fibrosis ... in spite of continued lung injury are considered important clinical aims for patients with chronic lung disease and lung fibrosis," they wrote, adding that finding a way to block the progression of lung fibrosis might decrease the need for lung transplantation.
Lab Notes: Kinase Target in Lung Fibrosis
By MedPage Today Staff
Published: October 07, 2011
Blocking Lung Fibrosis
A kinase pathway may represent a target for therapies to treat lung fibrosis, experiments in mice showed.
Researchers from the University of California San Diego and the San Diego VA Healthcare Center induced lung fibrosis in mice using bleomycin, a chemotherapeutic agent with that well-known side effect.
They discovered that RSK phosphorylation of the C/EBP-beta binding protein appeared to be involved in the lung injury. Blocking the phosphorylation with a single point mutation, a dominant negative transgene, or a blocking peptide reduced the progression of lung fibrosis in the mice.
Other experiments showed that a similar process may also be occurring in human lung injury and fibrosis.
In their paper in PLoS ONE, the researchers noted that there is no effective treatment for lung fibrosis, but that it is too early to tell whether this pathway could be a possible target for new therapies.
"Both lack of progression of lung fibrosis, as we documented in our study, as well as regression of lung fibrosis ... in spite of continued lung injury are considered important clinical aims for patients with chronic lung disease and lung fibrosis," they wrote, adding that finding a way to block the progression of lung fibrosis might decrease the need for lung transplantation.