In Brief
The Lung's Repair Process
The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD is the world-wide fourth leading cause of death. In the event of COPD, the lung tissue is irreversibly destroyed; currently, there is no known cure. Using the mouse model, scientists around Dr Dr Melanie Königshoff at the Comprehensive Pneumology Center of the Helmholtz Centre Munich now found out that the so-called Wnt signaling pathway is blocked, by which cells can react to external signals. They managed to artificially activate in mice exactly this Wnt signaling pathway. Thereby, the irreversible overinflation of the pulmonary alveoli in cases of increasing COPD could be significantly repressed. "Our aim now is to understand the Wnt signaling pathway in even greater detail in order to be able to develop practical therapeutical approaches", says Königshoff.
More information:
