Today, we would like to introduce a more clinically correlative model in which skin and lung fibrosis develop simultaneously.

Systemic scleroderma is a progressive, rare disease that causes fibrosis not only in the skin but also in tissues throughout the body, including the heart, lungs and kidneys. Pulmonary disease is a complication that has a particularly high incidence, and interstitial pneumonia has been reported as a major cause of death in patients with systemic scleroderma.

Inducing skin fibrosis via subcutaneous administration of bleomycin is a common animal model of systemic scleroderma, and we have been providing this model for some time. In order to provide a model with higher clinical correlation, we have re-examined the conditions for creating this model and renewed it as a SSc-ILD model that induces both skin and lung fibrosis simultaneously. This model induces both dermal thickening of the skin and fibrosis of the lungs, which are typical pathologies in scleroderma.

Currently, there is no curative treatment for systemic scleroderma, only symptomatic treatment of skin and lung symptoms. We are therefore recommending this improved model to clients hoping to evaluate the efficacy of their drug candidates in treating both skin and lung symptoms of systemic scleroderma at the same time.

If you have any questions or concerns about the SSc-ILD model, please feel free to contact us.