Thyroid hormone therapy heals lung fibrosis in animal study

Thyroid hormone therapy significantly resolves fibrosis, or scarring, in the lungs of mice, increasing their survival from disease, a Yale-led study shows. This provides a novel insight into the development of pulmonary fibrosis and could lead to alternative treatment for this serious condition, according to the researchers. The study was published. A type of lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis causes scarring of the lungs, which impairs breathing. One form of this lethal illness, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is steadily increasing in the United States and leads to death within three to five years of diagnosis in half of patients. Using profiles of all the genes expressed in the lungs, the Yale-led team of investigators identified a gene that was increased in the lungs of people with IPF; this gene also activates the thyroid hormone. To examine the link between the thyroid hormone and IPF, the research team tested the effect of the hormone in two different mice models.