#Halofuginone

[healthtimetaylor]

Crocin attenuates lung inflammation and pulmonary vascular dysfunction in a rat model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

PMID:  Life Sci. 2019 Aug 26:116794. Epub 2019 Aug 26. PMID: 31465731 Abstract Title:  Crocin attenuates lung inflammation and pulmonary vascular dysfunction in a rat model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Abstract:  Amongst the various forms of lung injury; pulmonary fibrosis remains the most intricate form with limited therapeutic options to both the patient and the physicians. Bleomycin (BLM) is a chemotherapeutic agent used for the treatment of various carcinomas; however, its therapeutic value is significantly limited by its associated pulmonary fibrosis. The current study highlights the prominent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effect of crocin against BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Intratracheal BLM instillation induced significant biochemical, structural, functional and vascular pulmonary injury. BLM instillation increased oxidant load with quenching of antioxidant defenses together with increase inflammatory and fibrotic cytokines expression. Crocin significantly attenuated BLM-induced lung injury and its effect was comparable to the standard anti-fibrotic; halofuginone. The observed anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic and antioxidant impacts are thought to be embroiled in the therapeutic impacts of crocin. Down-regulation of TLR4, IL-10 expression is the major pathway involved in the observed anti-inflammatory effects and finally, down-regulation of tissue expression of TNF-α and TGF-β1 is the major pathways implicated in the observed anti-fibrotic activities and modulation of Nrf2 and HO-1 pathways is the main mechanism involved in the observed antioxidant effects.

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[cancersfakianakis1]

Antifibrotic Therapy Disrupts Stromal Barriers and Modulates the Immune Landscape in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer, in part, because it is largely refractory to current therapies. The failure of most standard therapies in PDA, as well as promising immune therapies, may be largely ascribed to highly unique and protective stromal microenvironments that present significant biophysical barriers to effective drug delivery, that are immunosuppressive, and that can limit the distribution and function of antitumor immune cells. Here, we utilized stromal reengineering to disrupt these barriers and move the stroma toward normalization using a potent antifibrotic agent, halofuginone. In an autochthonous genetically engineered mouse model of PDA, halofuginone disrupted physical barriers to effective drug distribution by decreasing fibroblast activation and reducing key extracellular matrix elements that drive stromal resistance. Concomitantly, halofuginone treatment altered the immune landscape in PDA, with greater immune infiltrate into regions of low hylauronan, which resulted in increased number and distribution of both classically activated inflammatory macrophages and cytotoxic T cells. In concert with a direct effect on carcinoma cells, this led to widespread intratumoral necrosis and reduced tumor volume. These data point to the multifunctional and critical role of the stroma in tumor protection and survival and demonstrate how compromising tumor integrity to move toward a more normal physiologic state through stroma-targeting therapy will likely be an instrumental component in treating PDA.Significance:This work demonstrates how focused stromal re-engineering approaches to move toward normalization of the stroma disrupt physical barriers to effective drug delivery and promote antitumor immunity.See related commentary by Huang and Brekken, p. 328 http://bit.ly/2CpBVfa