Fibrosis News and Research

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Fibrosis is the growth of fibrous tissue.

KCP protein protects kidneys from damage caused by chronic renal disease and injury

University of Michigan scientists have identified a new and unusual protein that reduces, in laboratory mice, kidney damage caused by chronic renal disease and acute toxic injuries.

28 Mar 2005

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease who could benefit from their cholesterol-lowering capabilities, concludes a review paper published in the April 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

28 Mar 2005

Hope of new treatments for liver damage

There is currently no cure for liver cirrhosis and a patient's only hope of survival is to receive a liver transplant.

28 Mar 2005

Donor age has no affect on long-term liver transplant survival

A new study on the effect of donor age on survival and recurrence of hepatitis C after liver transplantation found that it influenced short-term survival, but had no long-term effect.

22 Mar 2005

New study to evaluate Pegasys and Copegus to treat hepatitis C in liver transplant patients

Roche has initiated a new study to evaluate treatment strategies to reduce post-transplant recurrence of hepatitis C infection with the most prescribed hepatitis C treatment combination in the U.S., Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus (ribavirin, USP).

21 Mar 2005

Mountaineering doctors hike medicine to new heights with Xtreme Everest

Doctors working at the edge of extreme are set to climb the world’s tallest mountain to look death in the face – and take its pulse. The medical research team will make the first ever measurements of blood oxygen in the ‘death zone’, at altitudes above 8,000 metres where the human body has struggled - and frequently failed - to survive.

16 Mar 2005

Medical tests in the privacy of your own home

A San Francisco-based testing company is currently offering genetic testing, for a predisposition to cystic fibrosis, blood clotting, iron overload and a heightened risk for lung and liver diseases; prices ranging from $199 to $380.

7 Mar 2005

U.S. cancer researchers launch first American-Israeli cancer conference

Leading cancer researchers from Baltimore, Miami and New Jersey have organized the first Joint American-Israeli Conference on Cancer. The meeting, scheduled for March 16 through 18 in Jerusalem, seeks to foster collaboration among physicians and scientists in the two countries.

1 Mar 2005

Beginning of new wave - first generation to turn 18 since technology and treatments have allowed them to survive to adulthood

More than half a million children with special health-care needs will turn 18 this year, the first generation to reach adulthood since sweeping medical advances ensured an unprecedented number would survive congenital conditions that until recently would have killed them.

27 Feb 2005

Safer approach to treating children with cystic fibrosis

Treating chest infections in young cystic fibrosis patients with an antibiotic once instead of three times daily is as effective and less toxic, conclude the results of a randomised trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

10 Feb 2005

Potential treatments for neurofibromatosis

Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine are closing in on potential treatments for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that afflicts 100,000 Americans with nerve tissue tumors, some of which become cancerous.

3 Feb 2005

Molecular pathway turns a juvenile heart into an adult heart

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered the molecular sequence of events in mice that turn a juvenile heart into an adult heart capable of responding to increased workloads.

17 Jan 2005

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis study points to survival as key endpoint in future actimmune studies

InterMune, Inc. today announced that CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, published an important analysis of variables that measure clinical outcomes in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a deadly and debilitating lung disease.

10 Jan 2005

Core promoter mutants of Hepatitis B Virus e Antigen associated with development of fulminant hepatitis and liver cancer

Scientists in Brown Medical School, Providence, USA, have found that core promoter mutants of Hepatitis B Virus e Antigen replicate at up to 10-fold higher levels in transfected human hepatoma cells than the wild-type virus.

9 Jan 2005

New hope for millions of patients suffering from liver damage (cirrhosis)

Millions of patients suffering from liver damage (cirrhosis) and failure may benefit from research by the Universities of Edinburgh and Southampton which may lead to new life-saving treatments. There is currently no cure for liver cirrhosis and a patient's only hope of survival is to receive a liver transplant.

5 Jan 2005

Patient safety measures work at children’s hospitals

In recent years, children's hospitals have joined in the national push to improve patient safety and avoid preventable problems. But it has been hard to measure progress, because of uncertainty about whether standard patient safety measurement tools apply to their patients, who are younger, smaller and on average sicker than those at other hospitals.

4 Jan 2005

£2.5 million to support further research into gene therapy for cystic fibrosis

The funding commitment was made in the Genetics White Paper, 'Our Inheritance, Our Future: Realising the potential of genetics in the NHS' and will help to ensure that those with cystic fibrosis benefit as soon as possible from the latest advances in genetic knowledge and technologies.

4 Jan 2005