Organs facing chronic injury or inflammation from a variety of causes may be susceptible to a prolonged repair process that ultimately creates a permanent scarring of the tissue, known as fibrosis, which can lead to organ dysfunction and even death. One estimate suggests that organ fibrosis may contribute to 45 percent of deaths in the US. Treatment options for fibrosis are scarce and have many limitations, and fewer still target fibrotic cells without affecting healthy ones.
A study published today (September 15) in Cell Stem Cell provides proof of principle of a potential new treatment based on vaccination against peptides that are only present in the cells that give rise to myofibroblasts—those responsible for the permanent scar tissue. Mice that received these vaccines showed reduced levels of fibrosis in their livers and lungs compared to those that received a control injection, the authors report.
In the past decade, various studies ...
