Role of matrix metalloproteinases in the pathophysiology of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive fibrosing lung condition is a ther-apeutic medical challenge. The etiopathogenesis of IPF is complicated and hitherto not adequately understood. However, the concept, of late, is shifting from fibrosis as a result of inflammation to a mechanism of primarily dysregulated fibrogenesis. A class of enzymes called matrix metallo proteinases (MMPs) appear important in the pathogenesis of IPF. The heightened activity of MMPs are derived out of an imbalance between them (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs). This leads to breakdown of interstitial matrix and triggering of certain growth factors which play an important mechanistic role in the pathogenesis of IPF. Understanding of the role of MMPs in pathogenesis of IPF may open up a new horizon of therapeutic intervention of the desease