A new angle in fibrosis

The cytokine CXCL10 has been shown to reduce lung fibrosis, but the mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. Duke University School of Medicine researchers have now shown how CXCL10 interacts with syndecan 4, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan on the surface of lung fibroblasts that controls extracellular matrix dynamics.¹ But given the mouse model the researchers used, more work is needed to show that CXCL10 is actually affecting fibrosis rather than inflammation.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition of compromised lung function that results from excess production of extracellular matrix molecules such as collagen, fibronectin, tenascin and proteoglycans. During fibrosis, fibroblasts that produce the matrix proteins are recruited to the lungs...