HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

From Cell Biology to Tissue Engineering

 

Review

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Are any of the morphological-molecular markers useful in clinical management?

Francesca Lunardi, Elisabetta Balestro, Nazarena Nannini, Stefania Edith Vuljan, Federico Rea and Fiorella Calabrese

Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Offprint requests to: Fiorella Calabrese, Associate Professor of Pathology, Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova Medical School, Via A. Gabelli 61, 35121 Padova, Italy. e-mail: fiorella.calabrese@unipd.it


Summary. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the most common form of chronic interstitial lung disease, is a severe progressive fibrotic disorder of unknown aetiology. The disease has a heterogeneous clinical course, with frequent poor prognosis, similar to malignant disease. Correctly diagnosing IPF has become particularly important in view of the availability of more precise therapeutic indications, thus avoiding steroid treatment and allowing new approaches with novel drugs. To date we have limited information about biomarkers predictive of progressive disease and associated complications. Efforts should be made in the future to more appropriately study lung tissue and then to extrapolate the most clinically fitting biomarkers. This approach is already used in routine management of many cancers and provides a potential road map for more appropriate clinical care of IPF. This review will mainly focus on histology and etiopathogenesis highlighting some morphological and molecular features that may influence the overall management of IPF. Histol Histopathol 32, 661-672 (2017)

Key words: IPF, Morphology, Markers, Management

DOI: 10.14670/HH-11-851