ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms
Freezing fibrosis at the source
May 12, 2011 7:00 AM UTC
Hyperactive skin cells cause fibrosis, but targets to prevent their pathogenic activation have been hard to pin down, thus making it difficult to intervene early in disease. Now, a European team has mapped out a pathway involving serotonin released by activated platelets that drives early steps in scleroderma, a form of dermal fibrosis.1
The findings could open up fibrotic disease as a therapeutic category for terguride, a serotonin receptor antagonist that Pfizer Inc. in-licensed from Ergonex Pharma GmbH last year. The platelet connection also could build the case for Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s strategy of targeting receptors for platelet-derived inflammatory mediators to treat fibrotic diseases...