AURKB Protein to Control Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice Model Organsims

Release Date: 04-Aug-2020

AstraZeneca investigated AURKB protein that was found to be easing the activation of fibroblast and lung scarring in the model organism (mouse) having idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The primary aim of the study was to identift the drug barasertic as an anti-fibrotic candidate in the patients. The whole study was considered to be important because till now there is no treatment available for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. There are two drugs available for the same in the market but both the drugs have been found to be imposing adverse effects and no permanent curative effects.

It was found through the research that a gene called as Aurora kinase B was present in an elevated level in the patients suffering from IPF when compared with the patients without IPF. Similar result was found in the mouse model for IPF. AURKB is a protein that is regulated by another protein called as Wilms Tumor 1. It was observed that WT1 binds to the AURKB gene, leading to its activation in the fibroblasts. Through the experiment it was found that controlling the expression of the gene AURKB, a decrease in the pathway leading to fibroblast proliferation was marked. This was observed in the patients suffering from IPF as well as in the mouse models.

The mouse model with TGF-alpha was treated with barasertiv, which is observed to be an inhibitor for AURKB. It is developed by AstraZeneca as a potential cancer therapy. The drug is also getting tested for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. The drug was observed to delivering promising results to the overall process. It resulted in enhance lung tissue elasticity and improve overall lung function in bleomycin-treated mice.

It was suggested through the findings that the gene AURKB could be used as a target for the inhibition of fibroblast activation. The therapy of AURKB inhibitor is potential of treating millions of patients who have been suffering from IPF. Researchers are now trying to explore all the parameters of the drug in order to make it safe as well as tolerable in the patients. The study will also proceed towards evaluating the drugs efficacy on the large group of human patients.