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Local doctors discover new drug to reverse lung scarring:
When you think of scars, you think of permanent damage. But, scientists right down the road have discovered a way to actually reverse scarring in your lungs.
According to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, about 40,000 Americans die from lung scarring each year.
"This year, two new drugs were approved by the FDA for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, but they're not curative," said Dr. Steven Idell, Vice President of Research at UT Health Northeast.
These new drugs, Pirfenidone and Nintedanib, can slow the progression of the disease, but they're expensive and don't come without complications. Dr. Idell and Dr. Sreerama Shetty have discovered a new drug, a modern day medical breakthrough.
"What Dr. Shetty has discovered is that a piece of a specific protein on the surface of lung lining cells can be used to protect the cells against cell death after inhalation of smoke or after injury from various other causes," said Dr. Idell. "We're excited about this particular peptide is what we call it. It appears to work as well if not better than Pirfenidone, which is one of the FDA approved drugs."
This piece of protein not only prevents scarring in the lungs, it reverses it.
"In other words, we set up the models to form scar tissue and come in after the injury is already set up and we actually find that the lungs revert to a more normal appearance," explained Dr. Idell.
Dr. Idell expects the process to get to the clinical trial phase to be quicker than normal.
"That's because it is a small fragment of a protein. It's seven amino acids which means it's really very small. We'll be able to actually do testing, we think, in perhaps a two-year time frame."
All this was developed right here in Tyler, Texas.
"It's competitive with anybody's research whether it's Harvard, Yale or Hopkins and the proof is in the pudding in the sense that we are getting the grants to support this work and we continue to do that," he said.
Pat
When you think of scars, you think of permanent damage. But, scientists right down the road have discovered a way to actually reverse scarring in your lungs.
According to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, about 40,000 Americans die from lung scarring each year.
"This year, two new drugs were approved by the FDA for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, but they're not curative," said Dr. Steven Idell, Vice President of Research at UT Health Northeast.
These new drugs, Pirfenidone and Nintedanib, can slow the progression of the disease, but they're expensive and don't come without complications. Dr. Idell and Dr. Sreerama Shetty have discovered a new drug, a modern day medical breakthrough.
"What Dr. Shetty has discovered is that a piece of a specific protein on the surface of lung lining cells can be used to protect the cells against cell death after inhalation of smoke or after injury from various other causes," said Dr. Idell. "We're excited about this particular peptide is what we call it. It appears to work as well if not better than Pirfenidone, which is one of the FDA approved drugs."
This piece of protein not only prevents scarring in the lungs, it reverses it.
"In other words, we set up the models to form scar tissue and come in after the injury is already set up and we actually find that the lungs revert to a more normal appearance," explained Dr. Idell.
Dr. Idell expects the process to get to the clinical trial phase to be quicker than normal.
"That's because it is a small fragment of a protein. It's seven amino acids which means it's really very small. We'll be able to actually do testing, we think, in perhaps a two-year time frame."
All this was developed right here in Tyler, Texas.
"It's competitive with anybody's research whether it's Harvard, Yale or Hopkins and the proof is in the pudding in the sense that we are getting the grants to support this work and we continue to do that," he said.
Pat