Fibrosis in the Respiratory and Digestive Systems

Fibrosis is excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins and results in scarring and thickening of the affected tissue. It is, in essence, an exaggerated wound healing response that leads to organ malfunction. Fibrosis is commonly associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, there is an urgent need to development of effective antifibrotic therapies. However, drug discovery costs remain so high, and the rare incidence of many fibrotic diseases hinder the development of targeted therapies for individual organ fibrotic disorders.

Recently, Technological advances, including new delivery system, new models, gene editing and single-cell technologies, could provide new insights into the pathogenesis of organ fibrotic diseases and the development of new drugs for their treatment. Fibrosis can affect multiple organ systems. In this Research Topic, we focus on the respiratory system and digestive system.

This Research Topic aims at everyone working in the fibrotic diseases in the respiratory system and digestive system, including the highest-quality reviews, timely summaries of original research articles, perspectives covering a broad scope, news stories that investigate the hottest topics in pathophysiology mechanism, and opinions of the latest advances in areas such as new drug approvals and emerging trends and strategies.

The major areas of this topic are interested in are:
• Nature, etiology and pathophysiology of fibrotic disorders
• Biologically relevant aspects of the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment
• Drug discovery and Development
• Basic and Clinical Pharmacology