Molecular Optical Imaging of Key Targets in the Fibrogenic Pathway in Man

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Fibrosis, or scarring, is a process which complicates many diseases of the lung and other organs and for which no effective treatment is available. There are currently no ways to detect the activity of fibrosis in human tissues in life.The ability to specifically monitor fibrosis non-invasively in diseased organs would enable stratification of disease and to personalise treatment as well as facilitate the rapid design and testing of new drugs in patients with 'real disease' without the need for animal experimentation.This project aims to develop 'smart' probes to detect fibrosis in 'real time' in human tissues. This is achieved by the combined application of 'cutting-edge' technology to perform optical imaging microscopy deep in diseased organs to detect the activity of a tiny dose of a coloured compound which has been designed to specifically detect key events in the fibrotic process. This 'microdose' involves no toxicity or radiation exposure. This technology will enable us not only to detect fibrosis and develop new drugs for human disease but will also be applicable to scarring diseases in animals. Thus the proposed studies using tissue from donkeys, which have a very high natural incidence of a form of lung scarring which is virtually identical to the human variety, will not only help our human translational pathway, but will also provide the basis of much-needed treatment for sick animals.