14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists at the University of California in San Francisco say that they were recently able to address a condition that plays an important role in nearly half of all deaths occurring in the developed world. In a new study conducted on mice, the team was able to stop the development of fibrosis, and even reverse it in some cases.
Fibrosis is a term used to describe tissue scarring, a process that may occur either in response to a wound, or due to errors in the body. When fibrosis affects the liver, lungs or kidneys, it can easily shut these organs down, leading to death, Science Blog reports.
“Scarring is a critical component of organ dysfunction in most chronic diseases – kidney failure, liver failure, lung failure, heart failure. Although scarring contributes to the progression of all these diseases, we currently have no way to treat it,” says UCSF expert Dean Sheppard.
Details of the study appear in a paper published in the November 10 online issue of the esteemed journal Nature Medicine. The team explains that their approach to treating fibrosis relies on a substance that is able to block a series of five receptors that fibroblast cells require to create scar tissue.