title: Antifibrotic Actions of Serelaxin - New Roles for an Old Player.
abstract: Fibrosis represents a failed wound healing response to tissue injury. It is characterized by the accumulation of excess connective tissue and is a significant cause of organ failure, morbidity, and mortality. Fibrotic disorders accompany a wide spectrum of conditions including both systemic and organ-specific diseases, for which there is currently no effective cure. Serelaxin, the recombinant form of the major stored and circulating form of human relaxin, has emerged as a pleiotropic drug with rapidly occurring antifibrotic actions. This review discusses the effectiveness of serelaxin as an antifibrotic, and how it augments the actions of several other therapeutics leading to its potential use not only as a monotherapy but also as an adjunct therapy with other antifibrotic agents.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Disease Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Pharmacology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: chrishan.samuel@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Chrishan S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Disease Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Pharmacology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Roger J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Tim D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Hewitson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D012065:Relaxin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C577649:serelaxin protein, human; D012065:Relaxin
keywords: TGF-β1; collagen; fibrosis; relaxin; serelaxin; signal transduction