First Different Black/White Mechanism In Pulmonary Fibrosis/Scleroderma Identified

... More than 40,000 persons die each year in the US from pulmonary fibrosis, but the mortality rate among African-Americans is twice as high Caucasians. A physiologist from Belarus working at the Medical University of South Carolina thinks she's found the mechanism that could explain why: The antifibrotic effect of hepatocyte growth factor is impaired in lung fibroblasts isolated from African-Americans, probably due to a deficiency in c-Met receptor function. Needed next: a valid animal model. ...