Scientists believe they can develop drugs which will stop organs failing meaning a transplant isn’t necessary
A scientific breakthrough into the way human tissue is left scarred could mean fewer people need organ transplants.
Scientists hope to create new drugs to treat fibrotic diseases that attack the liver, lungs or kidneys, a study in Nature Medicine journal suggests.
Experts have discovered that a molecule on specialised cells, known as myofibroblasts, can regulate the production of scar tissue – a bit like a switch.
The team studied specially bred mice with fibrosis and found removing the molecule – called alpha v integrin – from the cells protected them from the organ failure.
And when the mice were treated with a new experimental drug designed to block the molecule, they were protected from liver and lung fibrosis.
Dr Neil Henderson, a Wellcome Trust clinical scientist and consultant hepatologist at Edinburgh University/Medical Research Council Centre for Inflammation Research, said: “When tissue scarring becomes severe, affected organs do not work properly and currently the only treatment for end-stage organ failure is transplantation.
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