Novel Pharmacological Approaches to Manage Interstitial Lung Fibrosis in the Twenty-First Century

Pharmacological agents currently in use to treat interstitial lung fibrosis are either ineffective or too toxic in humans. This review addresses mechanistically based novel approaches that have the potential to minimize the accumulation of collagen in the lung, a hallmark of lung fibrosis. These approaches include maintaining the intracellular levels of NAD⁺ and ATP, blocking the biological activities of TGF-β and integrins, evaluating the effectiveness of PAF-receptor antagonists and NOS inhibitors, and developing a new generation of cysteine pro-drugs with an adequate degree of bioavailabilty. A critical analysis of each approach as it relates to management of IPF in humans is presented.