New insights into the role of the Monocyte/Macrophage lineage in lung fibrosis

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, (IPF) is a rare but increasingly prevalent lung disease affecting approximately 3 Million people worldwide. With a median survival post diagnosis of 2 to 3 years, IPF is as devastating as some of the most aggressive cancers. Two anti-fibrotic drugs, Nintedanib and Pirfenidone have shown their ability to slow down the disease progression and have been recently approved by the FDA as treatments.

Due to the ineffectiveness of anti-inflammatory treatments in patients (mainly corticosteroids), the involvement of immune cells in IPF pathogeny is a controversial subject.

In the August 2017 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Misharin, AV et al., showed by using engineered mice the key role played by monocytes-derived alveolar macrophages in the bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis model.

This work paves the way for new studies evaluating the effectiveness of drugs blocking the differentiation of monocytes into alveolar macrophages as a treatment in models of lung fibrosis and IPF.

Find out more by reading this excellent article!