MOLECULES FOR THE TREATMENT OF LUNG DISEASE INVOLVING AN AUTOIMMUNE REACTION TO CONNECTIVE TISSUE FOUND IN THE LUNG

摘要

Various embodiments include methods for diagnosing and treating medicalconditions that involve an autoimmune response to connective tissue such ascollagen found in organs such as the lung. In one method pulmonary disease anddisorders such as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) are diagnosed byanalyzing fluid or tissue samples obtained from a patient for evidence of anautoimmune response to various types of collagen including, for example, TypeV. One type of assay for evidence of an autoimmune response to Type V collagencomprises the steps of obtaining a fluid or tissue sample from a patient,contacting at least a portion of the sample with antigen to anti-Type Vcollagen antibody and monitoring the mixture of sample and antigen for changesindicative of the presence of anti-Type V collagen in the sample. Anotherembodiment includes treating pulmonary diseases such as IPF by administering atherapeutically effective dose of epitopes of various collagens including TypeV collagen.