Restoring lipid synthesis could reduce lung fibrosis, a new study has revealed. According to a Thomas Jefferson University-study, restoring the lipids that help keep lung tissue flexible and inflated can help slow disease progression in laboratory models of pulmonary fibrosis.

Pulmonary fibrosis, an ongoing process of scarring that leaves patients chronically short of breath, can progress in severity until the only course of treatment is the lung transplant. "This is the first paper to show that rather than being a 'second hit' to help initiate the disease, blocking lipid synthesis alone -- with no other insult to the lungs -- can instigate fibrotic scaring," said researcher Ross Summer.