Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, fatal disease characterized by lung fibrosis and declining lung function. There are currently few effective treatments for IPF, and the median survival following diagnosis is between 2 and 5 years. In this issue of JCI Insight , Maureen Horton and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine report that intranasal administration of a vaccine for vaccinia, the virus that causes small pox, improved lung function in a mouse model of IPF. The vaccine induced a population of T cells, known as resident memory CD4+ T cells, within the lungs of treated mice, which was associated with fewer fibrosis-inducing cells within the lungs and a marked reduction in lung fibrosis. These findings indicate that therapies to induce such immune cell populations may be a promising approach for the treatment of IPF.
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TITLE:
Vaccinia vaccine-based immunotherapy arrests and reverses established pulmonary fibrosis AUTHOR CONTACT:
Maureen Horton
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
mhorton2@jhmi.edu
View this article at: http://insight.jci.org/articles/view/83116?key=95060fe0fa52b47db98a
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