Researchers Find Way to Stop Fibrosis Around Implanted Devices

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Children’s Hospital say they have identified a signaling molecule that is key to the process of “fibrosis” in which medical devices implanted in a body for drug delivery, sensing, or tissue regeneration become surrounded by a wall of dense scar tissue that eventually leaves them unable to perform their function. The researchers report in the 3/20 Nature Materials (subscription or purchase required) that blocking the signaling molecule prevents the scar tissue from forming.

“This gives us a better understanding of the biology behind fibrosis and potentially a way to modulate that response to prevent the formation of scar tissue around implants,” says study senior author Daniel Anderson.

While blocking the surface cell receptors for the CSF1 molecule prevents implant-induced fibrosis from occurring, the report says, the interference does not stop macrophages from carrying out other critical functions.