Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fibrotic lung disease marked by rapid progressive lung failure due to an accumulation of fibrotic collagen tissue. Due to the rapid onset of the disease, accurate and effective diagnostic tools are crucial for improving patient outcomes. Additionally, monitoring patient response to treatment should be minimally invasive so that routine testing can be performed.
Current methods for monitoring IPF include high-resolution imaging and targeted molecular probes that detect key cellular modulators in IPF. However, high-resolution imaging often lacks the sensitivity required for early diagnosis, and the developed molecular probes have limited detection capabilities of collagen. However, collagen hybridising peptides (CHPs) provide a unique insight into the progression of IPF due to their ability to bind to damaged collagen. Fluorescent imaging using CHPs can selectively target damaged collagen in the lung tissue and provide information about collagen degradation and remodelling.
This study uses collagen hybridising peptides (CHPs) to bind specifically to denatured collagen and detect fibrosis. CHPs were applied in various ways: (1) For ex vivo analysis, Cy3-labelled CHPs stained human IPF and mouse lung tissues, revealing collagen remodelling. (2) For in vivo imaging, Cy5-labeled CHPs and radioactive Ga-CHPs enabled visualisation of fibrosis progression using PET/CT. (3) Antifibrotic therapy tests used CHPs to differentiate between collagen degradation and deposition in mice. The methodology integrates CHP-based fluorescence, histology, and PET to study fibrosis in detail.
Zhao, Jie, et al. “Delineating, Imaging, and Assessing Pulmonary Fibrosis Remodeling via Collagen Hybridization.” ACS nano (2024).
Information originally posted on: https://www.3helix.com/blogs/news/using-collagen-hybridizing-peptides-to-improve-ipf-diagnosis-and-imaging
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