Renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis. New thoughts on its development and progression

M P O'Donnell1

  • 1Department of Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, USA. mod19@mail.idt.net

Postgraduate Medicine
|July 29, 2000
PubMed

Current investigation of the pathogenesis of tubulointerstitial injury indicates that both interstitial fibroblasts and renal tubular epithelial cells promote extracellular matrix accumulation. Moreover, two peptides--TGF-beta and angiotensin II--produced locally or delivered in the circulation, appear to play a central role in renal fibrosis. Pharmacologic amelioration of renal fibrosis may require methods directed at multiple factors involved in the fibrotic process, including angiotensin II, TGF-beta, and the proliferation and activation of interstitial fibroblasts.

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