Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase–activated Protein Kinase 2 Inhibition Attenuates Fibroblast Invasion and Severe Lung Fibrosis

What is it about?

Severe pulmonary fibrosis such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix and fibroblast activation. Increased activation of MK2 was reported in IPF lung. We show that MK2 inhibition reduced the invasive capacity of IPF lung fibroblasts by disrupting an MK2-HAS2 feed-forward loop. MK2 inhibition attenuated lung fibrosis in mice in vivo, suggesting that MK2 may be a novel therapeutic target in pulmonary fibrosis.

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