Gleevec for lung disease

According to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, more than 200,000 people in the United States suffer from pulmonary fibrosis.

According to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, more than 200,000 people in the United States suffer from pulmonary fibrosis.Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive disease that involves scarring of the lung. Gradually, the air sacs of the lungs become replaced by fibrotic tissue. When scars form, the tissue becomes thicker — causing an irreversible loss of the ability to transfer oxygen into the bloodstream.Symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis include shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue and weakness, discomfort in the chest, loss of appetite, and rapid weight loss.Typically, patients are diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis between ages 40 and 70 years.About 40,000 patients with the disease die each year.There are currently no treatments that have proven to be effective for pulmonary fibrosis patients.Some medications that are used to treat patients with pulmonary fibrosis include corticosteroids such as prednisone, cyclophosphamide — an anti-cancer drug, and a drug called azathioprine.Researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans are testing the cancer drug Gleevec on patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. WATCH THE VIDEO More Information Gleevec for lung cancerResearchers are testing the cancer drug Gleevec on patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Gleevec has received national attention for its success in treating leukemia, and doctors believe it may also benefit patients with pulmonary fibrosis.”Because fibrosis and cancer share some of the mechanisms of the development of the disease, we thought this [Gleevec] may be of some benefit for the patients who have fibrosis,” Dr. Joseph Lasky, from Tulane University, said.Based on lab studies, Lasky said Gleevec should stop the scarring from progressing.”At best, we hope to stop the progression of the disease. We don’t think that, at present, we’re able to make the scars that are presently there go away. So, we’re very much interested in getting patients who have the earlier symptoms of shortness of breath, so that we can, at any given time, point when they have more lung function still preserved,” he said.(Source: Ivanhoe, July 2004)