An international team of scientists has developed a potential treatment for two life-threatening lung conditions.
Researchers at the University of Illinois, USA, and Mie University, Tsu City, Japan, created monoclonal antibodies that can prevent lung cell death in mice for acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) - a condition in which the lungs become scarred and breathing becomes difficult.
The study, published in Nature Communications, also reveals a new and non-invasive diagnostic tool to mark the presence and progression of the disease, that could work together with the monoclonal antibody.
“These are very exciting and promising findings that open the door for testing this monoclonal antibody as a therapeutic strategy to help stave off progression of IPF and ARDS in patients,” said study author Professor Isaac Cann, of the University of Illinois.