GoingToMeet

Fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity worldwide, can affect nearly all tissues, and is a dominant feature of diseases ranging from pulmonary fibrosis to glomerulosclerosis and cancer. Current treatments targeting the inflammatory cascade are ineffective in fibrosis. On-going research focuses on the role of innate immunity, and intrinsic mesenchymal cell alterations, plasticity, and progenitor cell differentiation in the pathogenesis. Experimental models, genetics and functional genomics have uncovered novel aspects of fibrosis, and innovative therapies are entering clinical trials. However, consensus on robust outcome measures or appropriate biomarkers for evaluating therapeutic effectiveness is lacking. This meeting brings together academic clinicians, researchers and pharmaceutical industry representatives from a variety of fields (1) to identify themes shared among the different fibrosing disorders, (2) to delineate promising novel molecular and cellular targets and treatment strategies, and (3) to discuss outcome measures and biomarkers for clinical trials. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be further enhanced by the concurrent meeting “Allergy and Asthma”, which will share a session with this meeting.