Institutes, Divisions & Centers
Center for Translational Fibrosis Research

Center for Translational Fibrosis Research (CTFR)

Fibrosis is the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix that results in tissue scarring and organ dysfunction; it is a key component in the pathogenesis of many pediatric and adult diseases. It is estimated that 45% of deaths in the developed world are due to fibrosis-induced organ failure. Unfortunately, there are essentially no effective therapeutic options to attenuate or reverse fibrosis. This underscores the need for a synergistic, multidisciplinary approach to translational research in fibrosis.

The Center for Translational Fibrosis Research (CTFR) aims to establish Cincinnati Children's as a leader in innovative, translational research in organ fibrosis. CTFR integrates Cincinnati Children's impressive, existing, innovative strengths in lung, liver, kidney and heart fibrosis research efforts across basic, translational, imaging and clinical research. By studying similarities and differences across organs, CTFR will accelerate our understanding of fibrotic processes and synergize our efforts for diagnostic and therapeutic discovery/validation.

Valiente-Alandi I, Potter SJ, Salvador AM, Schafer AE, Schips T, Carrillo-Salinas F, Gibson AM, Nieman ML, Perkins C, Sargent MA, Huo J, Lorenz JN, DeFalco T, Molkentin JD, Alcaide P, Blaxall BC. Inhibiting Fibronectin Attenuates Fibrosis and Improves Cardiac Function in a Model of Heart Failure. Circulation. 2018.

Serai SD, Trout AT, Miethke A, Diaz E, Xanthakos SA, Dillman JR. Putting it all together: established and emerging MRI techniques for detecting and measuring liver fibrosis. Pediatr Radiol. 2018;48(9):1256-1272.

Fu X, Khalil H, Kanisicak O, Boyer JG, Vagnozzi RJ, Maliken BD, Sargent MA, Prasad V, Valiente-Alandi I, Blaxall BC, Molkentin JD. Specialized fibroblast differentiated states underlie scar formation in the infarcted mouse heart. J Clin Invest. 2018;128:2127-2143.

Adam M, Potter AS, Potter SS. Psychrophilic proteases dramatically reduce single-cell RNA-seq artifacts: a molecular atlas of kidney development. Development. 2017;144(9):3625-3632.

Ardini-Poleske ME, Clark RF, Ansong C, Carson JP, Corley RA, Deutsch GH, Hagood JS, Kaminski N, Mariani TJ, Potter SS, Pryhuber GS, Warburton D, Whitsett JA, Palmer SM, Ambalavanan N. LungMAP: The Molecular Atlas of Lung Development Program. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2017;313(5):L733-L740.

Drake KA, Adam M, Mahoney R, Potter SS. Disruption of Hox9,10,11 function results in cellular level lineage infidelity in the kidney. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):6306.

Gokey JJ, Sridharan A, Xu Y, Green J, Carraro G, Stripp BR, Perl AT, Whitsett JA. Active epithelial Hippo signaling in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. JCI Insight. 2018;3(6).

Magella B, Adam M, Potter AS, Venkatasubramanian M, Chetal K, Hay SB, Salomonis N, Potter SS. Cross-platform single cell analysis of kidney development shows stromal cells express Gdnf. Dev Biol. 2018;434(1):36-47.

Magella B, Mahoney R, Adam M, Potter SS. Reduced Abd-B Hox function during kidney development results in lineage infidelity. Dev Biol. 2018;438(2):84-93.

Rindler TN, Stockman CA, Filuta AL, Brown KM, Snowball JM, Zhou W, Veldhuizen R, Zink EM, Dautel SE, Clair G, Ansong C, Xu Y, Bridges JP, Whitsett JA. Alveolar injury and regeneration following deletion of ABCA3. JCI Insight. 2017;2(24).

Schwanekamp JA, Lorts A, Sargent MA, York AJ, Grimes KM, Fischesser DM, Gokey JJ, Whitsett JA, Conway SJ, Molkentin JD. TGFBI functions similar to periostin but is uniquely dispensable during cardiac injury. PLoS One. 2017;12(7):e0181945.

Sheybani-Deloui S, Chi L, Staite MV, Cain JE, Nieman BJ, Henkelman RM, Wainwright BJ, Potter SS, Bagli DJ, Lorenzo AJ, Rosenblum ND. Activated Hedgehog-GLI Signaling Causes Congenital Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2018;29(2):532-544.

Singh B, Kasam RK, Sontake V, Wynn TA, Madala SK. Repetitive intradermal bleomycin injections evoke T-helper cell 2 cytokine-driven pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2017;313(5):L796-L806.

Sontake V, Wang Y, Kasam RK, Sinner D, Reddy GB, Naren AP, McCormack FX, White ES, Jegga AG, Madala SK. Hsp90 regulation of fibroblast activation in pulmonary fibrosis. JCI Insight. 2017;2(4):e91454.

Tang X, Snowball JM, Xu Y, Na CL, Weaver TE, Clair G, Kyle JE, Zink EM, Ansong C, Wei W, Huang M, Lin X, Whitsett JA. EMC3 coordinates surfactant protein and lipid homeostasis required for respiration. J Clin Invest. 2017;127(12):4314-4325.

Wang Y, Yella J, Chen J, McCormack FX, Madala SK, Jegga AG. Unsupervised gene expression analyses identify IPF-severity correlated signatures, associated genes and biomarkers. BMC Pulm Med. 2017;17(1):133.

Xiang FL, Fang M, Yutzey KE. Loss of beta-catenin in resident cardiac fibroblasts attenuates fibrosis induced by pressure overload in mice. Nat Commun. 2017;8(1):712.

News

CTFR - News.

Blocking Matrix-Forming Protein Might Prevent Heart Failure

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Contact Us

Center for Translational Fibrosis Research
240 Albert Sabin Way; MLC 7020
Cincinnati, OH 45229

fibrosis@cchmc.org