Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis News and Research

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Pulmonary fibrosi is a condition in which tissue deep in your lungs becomes thick and stiff, or scarred, over time. The development of the scarred tissue is called fibrosis. As the lung tissue becomes thicker, your lungs lose their ability to move oxygen into your bloodstream. As a result, your brain and other organs don't get the oxygen they need.

In some cases, doctors can find out what's causing the fibrosis. But in most cases, they can't find a cause. They call these cases idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a serious condition. About 200,000 Americans have it. About 50,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. IPF mostly affects people who are 50 to 75 years of age. IPF varies from person to person. In some people, the lung tissue quickly becomes thick and stiff. In others, the process is much slower. In some people, the condition stays the same for years. IPF has no cure yet. Many people live only about 3 to 5 years after diagnosis. The most common cause of death related to IPF is respiratory failure.

Mayo Clinic study finds link between biology of aging and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

A Mayo Clinic study has shown evidence linking the biology of aging with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that impairs lung function and causes shortness of breath, fatigue, declining quality of life, and, ultimately, death.

23 Feb 2017

Pulmospheres could serve as personalized, predictive model for assessing effect of IPF drugs

Pulmospheres, three dimensional multicellular spheroids composed of lung cells from individual patients, were shown to be effective in predicting the efficacy of medications for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to findings from University of Alabama at Birmingham scientists presented today in JCI Insight, a journal of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

27 Jan 2017

Increasing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis research

IPF is an incurable lung condition with the average life expectancy following diagnosis being just three years. It’s one of the many types of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Interstitial means that the disease affects the interstitium, a lace-like network of tissue that supports the air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs.

From Asthma + Lung UK 25 Jan 2017

Nanoparticle exposure can trigger dormant viruses in lung tissue cells

Nanoparticles from combustion engines can activate viruses that are dormant in lung tissue cells. This is the result of a study by researchers of Helmholtz Zentrum München, a partner in the German Center for Lung Research, which has now been published in the journal 'Particle and Fibre Toxicology'.

16 Jan 2017

IPF diagnosis: how do patients feel about the discussion with their physician?

IPF (Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis) is a difficult disease to diagnose. Many patients will experience many visits to the doctor and some may even be told they have a different respiratory condition before they finally get the correct diagnosis that...

12 Dec 2016

Researchers crack genetic code of lung tissues to identify novel targets for treating IPF

Researchers cracked the complete genetic code of individual cells in healthy and diseased human lung tissues to find potential new molecular targets for diagnosing and treating the lethal lung disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

8 Dec 2016

Veracyte announces new data suggesting ability of Afirma GEC in thyroid cancer diagnosis

Veracyte, Inc.today announced new data suggesting the potential to enhance the performance of the Afirma Gene Expression Classifier in thyroid cancer diagnosis by combining the test's proven RNA expression-based capabilities with gene variant and fusion information – all on a single, robust RNA sequencing platform.

24 Sep 2016

New survey shows majority of patients happy with how physicians manage discussion on IPF diagnosis

A diagnosis of IPF is news that few patients want to hear from their physician, but the reality is that approximately 3 million people worldwide are living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

24 Sep 2016

British Lung Foundation announces funding for IPF research

Britons are officially three times more likely to die of the incurable lung condition idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), than in a road accident. Despite this, the disease is so unheard of and underfunded in research doctors still don’t know what causes it.

From Asthma + Lung UK 24 Sep 2016

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells may serve as biomarkers for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München, a partner in the German Center for Lung Research, have discovered that the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) is increased in the blood of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

2 Sep 2016

Boehringer Ingelheim and Duke expand collaboration to create largest patient registry for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) announced today the expansion of the Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis – PROspective Outcomes (IPF-PRO) Registry, a patient registry developed to uncover insights into IPF, a rare and serious lung disease. The expansion will increase the study enrollment from 300 patients at 18 study sites to 1,500 patients at approximately 45 sites, creating the largest registry of newly diagnosed IPF patients.

29 Aug 2016

VUMC receives $11 million renewal grant to advance pulmonary fibrosis research

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received an $11 million program project renewal grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the genetics and underlying biological mechanisms that lead to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

23 Aug 2016

New disease gene linked to shortened telomeres appears to raise risk of pulmonary fibrosis-emphysema

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a new disease gene that, when mutated, appears to increase the risk in a small number of people of developing emphysema and a lung-scarring condition known as pulmonary fibrosis.

10 Aug 2016

Scientists use Regeneration Intelligence to assess perturbation status of many signaling pathways

Insilico Medicine, Inc in collaboration with scientists from Atlas Regeneration, Inc, Vision Genomics, Inc and Howard University published two research papers on fibrosis in the lung and liver and fibrotic signatures in glaucoma.

30 Jul 2016

Advances in inhaled drug delivery: an interview with Dr Robert Clarke

Delivering drugs to the lungs via inhalation has a number of potential advantages over traditional routes of administration like pills or injections. For treating pulmonary diseases, the obvious logic we are applying is topical delivery to the airways via inhalation.

1 Jul 2016

Wresting back control of CHI3L1 protein could stave off cancer spread in mice

For cancer to spread, the cells that take off into the bloodstream must find a tissue that will permit them to thrive. They don't just go looking, though. Instead, they actively prepare the tissue, in one case by co-opting a protein that suppresses defenses the body would otherwise mount.

21 May 2016

Boehringer Ingelheim presents new data on OFEV® (nintedanib) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

New analyses presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 2016 annual conference (ATS 2016) further add to the efficacy and safety profile of OFEV® (nintedanib) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

16 May 2016

3-D imaging of fibroblastic foci may help researchers study disease progression in IPF patients

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal disease in which progressive scarring of the lungs leads to respiratory failure. Lung scarring in IPF takes the form of aggregates of proliferating fibroblasts and myofibroblasts, known as "fibroblastic foci", which deposit collagen and other fibrotic components. These foci are thought to form in response to lung injury.

22 Apr 2016

M10 peptide could help protect systemic sclerosis patients against fibrotic damage

The results of preclinical studies by investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) reported in the April 2016 issue of Translational Research suggest that the M10 peptide could help protect against fibrotic damage in patients with systemic sclerosis, particularly in those who develop interstitial lung diseases (ILD), its deadliest complication.

15 Apr 2016

Understanding idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an interview with Michael Durheim, M.D.

IPF is a rare and fatal lung disease that causes permanent scarring of the lungs, leading to debilitating shortness of breath and cough in affected patients. It affects as many as 132,000 Americans, most commonly those over the age of 65.

4 Apr 2016