[Nature Communications] Utilizing single cell RNA-sequencing of human pulmonary fibrotic lungs and mouse genetic models, researchers identified a unique cluster of fibrosis-associated pericytes which was not present in normal lungs and exhibited a distinctive transcriptional signature indicating transition of normal pericytes to a fibrotic state.

[Biomaterials Research] Researchers engineered a hybrid human umbilical cord mesenchymal-stem-cell-derived decellularized matrix (CDM)@Fibrin/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffold by incorporating CDM into a 3D-printed PCL framework.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] Investigators identified cells contributing to subretinal fibrosis by using Col1a1-YFP reporter mice to noninvasively image collagen production in real-time in vivo in two disease models, a resolving retinal injury model and a fibrotic model of subretinal disease.

[Communications Biology] To determine how vimentin facilitates cell migration through the ECM and around neighboring cells in tissues, researchers examined the collective invasion of cell spheroids embedded in collagen networks.

[FASEB Journal] Scientists investigated the role and underlying mechanism of circTMEM230 in the degeneration of endplate chondrocytes.

[European Journal of Pharmacology] Hyperbaric oxygen therapy effectively represses acute carbon monoxide poisoning-induced cardiac fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition and ameliorates cardiac fibrosis by modulating the NRF2/ROS/TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.

[Neurobiology of Disease] Scientists explored a challenging, yet the largely overlooked possibility that the ECM – a dynamic and highly structured network surrounding neurons and glia - may shape how mutant huntingtin aggregates form, accumulate and propagate in the brain.

[International Journal of Pharmaceutics] The authors highlight recent progress in the design and functionalization of chitosan-based nanocomposites for targeted colon delivery.

[GRI Bio, Inc.] GRI Bio, Inc. announced that the US FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation to GRI-0621 for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The designation represents a significant regulatory achievement for GRI-0621 and reinforces the growing recognition of the drug's potential to address significant unmet medical needs in fibrotic diseases.

[Microbiology Spectrum] Researchers investigated whether Mycobacterium tuberculosis or the nontuberculous mycobacteria Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium smegmatis can inhibit the NLRP1 or pyrin inflammasomes. They showed that none of the mycobacteria consistently inhibit the NLRP1 inflammasome after it is activated by priming with lipopolysaccharide and treatment with 1G244 in human macrophages.

[Cornell Chronicle] A $13.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support a Cornell-led effort to reveal the long-standing mystery of how immune cells communicate within living tissues across time and space, which could shape new approaches for treating inflammatory diseases, autoimmune disorders and infections.

[BBC News] An NHS hospital in the region has become the first in Europe to trial a new treatment for people with an incurable autoimmune condition. A research team at Peterborough City Hospital, run by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, is leading the pioneering study to help people with systemic lupus erythematosus.