Nicolau Beckmann1, Anna L. Babin2,
Christelle Gerard1, Catherine Cannet1, Helmut Sparrer3,
Pierre Saint-Mezard4, Gabor Jarai5, Tetsuya Matsuguchi6
1Global Imaging Group,
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; 2Sackler
Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, Kings College London, London, United
Kingdom; 3Autoimmune Diseases Department, Novartis Institutes for
BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; 4Developmental &
Molecular Pathways Department, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research,
Basel, Switzerland; 5Respiratory Diseases Department, Novartis
Institutes for BioMedical Research, Horsham, United Kingdom; 6Department
of Developmental Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical
& Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan
Bleomycin-elicited injury is often adopted to investigate in small rodents pathological mechanisms of lung fibrosis and for preclinical evaluation of novel therapies. Here, a long lasting response, up to day 70 following repeated bleomycin dosing, was detected non-invasively by MRI in the lungs of male C57BL/6 mice. Following a biological evaluation, the model was used to investigate two knockout mouse lines with the aim of providing potential therapeutic targets. MRI and histology demonstrated a protection against bleomycin insult in female heterozygous and male homozygous cancer Osaka thyroid kinase knockout animals. In contrast, no protection was seen in cadherin-11 knockout mice.
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