Application of a High-Content Screening Assay Utilizing Primary Human Lung Fibroblasts to Identify Antifibrotic Drugs for Rapid Repurposing in COVID-19 Patients.

ABSTRACT: Lung imaging and autopsy reports among COVID-19 patients show elevated lung scarring (fibrosis). Early data from COVID-19 patients as well as previous studies from severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and other respiratory disorders show that the extent of lung fibrosis is associated with a higher mortality, prolonged ventilator dependence, and poorer long-term health prognosis. Current treatments to halt or reverse lung fibrosis are limited; thus, the rapid development of effective antifibrotic therapies is a major global medical need that will continue far beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. Reproducible fibrosis screening assays with high signal-to-noise ratios and disease-relevant readouts such as extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition (the hallmark of

SUBMITTER: Marwick JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8458684 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature