The self-fulfilling prophecy of pulmonary fibrosis: a selective inspection of pathological signalling loops.

ABSTRACT: Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating, progressive disease and carries a prognosis worse than most cancers. Despite ongoing research, the mechanisms that underlie disease pathogenesis remain only partially understood. However, the self-perpetuating nature of pulmonary fibrosis has led several researchers to propose the existence of pathological signalling loops. According to this hypothesis, the normal wound-healing process becomes corrupted and results in the progressive accumulation of scar tissue in the lung. In addition, several negative regulators of pulmonary fibrosis are downregulated and, therefore, are no longer capable of inhibiting these feed-forward loops. The combination of pathological signalling loops and loss of a checks and balances system ultimately culminates in a process

SUBMITTER: Rackow AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7931159 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature