Old Drug, New Trick: Tilorone, a Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Drug as a Potential Anti-Fibrotic Therapeutic for the Diseased Heart.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac fibrosis is associated with most forms of cardiovascular disease. No reliable therapies targeting cardiac fibrosis are available, thus identifying novel drugs that can resolve or prevent fibrosis is needed. Tilorone, an antiviral agent, can prevent fibrosis in a mouse model of lung disease. We investigated the anti-fibrotic effects of tilorone in human cardiac fibroblasts in vitro by performing a radioisotopic assay for [3H]-proline incorporation as a proxy for collagen synthesis. Exploratory studies in human cardiac fibroblasts treated with tilorone (10 µM) showed a significant reduction in transforming growth factor-β induced collagen synthesis compared to untreated fibroblasts. To determine if this finding could be recapitulated in vivo, mice with established pathological remode

SUBMITTER: Horlock D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7998193 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature