News Release

Three-dimensional imaging of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JCI Journals

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. The nature of these lesions and their relationship to disease progression are poorly understood. Mark Jones and colleagues at the University of Southampton in Southampton, UK, used a micro-computed tomography method to create three-dimensional images of fibroblastic foci from human IPF patients. These images demonstrated that IPF foci are complex structures with a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Importantly, patients had numerous foci that were not interconnected, suggesting that foci form at discrete sites of lung injury. This method of imaging may help researchers understand the relationship between fibroblastic foci and disease progression in IPF patients.

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TITLE: Three-dimensional characterization of fibroblast foci in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

AUTHOR CONTACT: Mark Jones
University of Southampton
Email: mark.jones@soton.ac.uk

View this article at: http://insight.jci.org/articles/view/86375

JCI Insight is the newest publication from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, a nonprofit honor organization of physician-scientists. JCI Insight is dedicated to publishing a range of translational biomedical research with an emphasis on rigorous experimental methods and data reporting. All articles published in JCI Insight are freely available at the time of publication. For more information about JCI Insight and all of the latest articles go to http://www.insight.jci.org.


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