#IDIBELLseminars: Fibrosis and inflammation in the lung – a reinforcing loop?

Pulmonary fibrosis includes more than 200 different lung diseases. Characteristic of pulmonary fibrosis are more or less inflammatory and/or fibrotic features. Prognosis and disease progression depend on the underlying diagnosis and disease characteristics. Fibrosis or inflammation require different or even opposed treatment approaches. Whereas inflammation resolves best with immunosuppression, this treatment is harmful in only fibrotic lung disease, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). But inflammation, such as pulmonary infection, can also accelerate fibrosis as is observed after acute exacerbation. Better understanding of the underlying disease pathomechanism, improved prognostic markers and optimized as well as new drugs are needed for the treatment of the individual patient with pulmonary fibrosis. Clinical studies, translational approaches combined with basic research will help to answer the open questions.

Hosted by Maria Molina – Pneumology Group

Manuela Funke-Chambour, MD, is a Physician-Scientist and Chief Physician at the Department for Pulmonary Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland. Her clinical focus is care for patients with interstitial lung diseases, specifically pulmonary fibrosis. MFC is group leader at the Pulmonary Research Laboratory of the DBMR, University of Bern. In clinical, translational and basic research studies, she investigates mechanisms, diseases progression markers and potential treatments for pulmonary fibrosis. Current research focuses are acute lung injury, the influence of infection on fibrosis progression and anti-fibrotic strategies. Recently, the laboratory research group of MFC developed organotypic cultures of the alveolar tissue termed precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs). This ex vivo model is an ideal platform to study lung fibrosis and alveolar biology as they allow to maintain the cellular architecture and microenvironment found in the native lung.