New Paradigm of Fibrosis
“Nearly 45% of all deaths in the developed world are attributable to fibroproliferative diseases (TA Wynn)” probably due to the change of lifestyle in the 21st century. Fibrosis traditionally represents the final common pathway of virtually all-chronic diseases in various organs, but is now considered as one phenotype of the “on-going” host defense response of tissue remodeling. Based on this recent idea, two distinct hits are attributed in the development of fibrosis. Following tissue injury (1st hit induced by self or non-self component), the host defense system’s inflammation and immunity reaction occurs rapidly to clean up the causative agents and restore the damaged tissue. During the remodeling phase, however, persistent inflammation (2nd hit) leads to chronic fibroblast activation, which promotes the formation of fibrotic tissue instead of restoring normal tissue architecture. Age-related complications in all tissues are also included, making the anti-fibrotic drug-market significantly large. Stelic Institute & Co. considers that fibrosis-associated diseases are broken down into two categories, which each require distinct treatments during a patient’s life
(Mostly pathogen related) (Life style or age related) Interstitial lung disease Crohn’s disease Multiple sclerosis Cancer etc… Diabetes and its complications Chronic kidney disease Arteriosclerosis Aging etc… Impaired QOL Vast latent Improve QOL Long-term management
Intractable type-fibrosis
Overlapping type-fibrosis
General
Severe local insult
Mild systemic insult
Diseases
Virus-induced liver cirrhosis
Metabolic disorder
Patients
Life-threatening
Silent killer
Aim of therapy
Remove symptom
Stage-specific management
Concept of therapy
From intervention to medical management
Living with fibrosis without impairing QOL
Type of therapy
RNAi, antibody, cell-based therapy, Small molecular inhibitor
Small molecular inhibitor
Two categories of fibrosis-associated diseases
Despite extensive research, the development of effective anti-fibrotic drugs are still a challenge. Several key factors are involved:
- The need for winning drug targets
- Need for non-invasive, quantitative assay to estimate the degree and prognosis of fibrosis.
Innovation is needed in all processes of research and development (R&D).
To answer these points, Stelic Institute & Co. provides:
- Glycogenes as an effective drug targets
- Translational research-related technology, which brings quantitative endpoints into clinical trials.
Our technology platform contributes to the modularization of the R&D process for anti-fibrosis therapeutics.
