Tissue plasticity: balancing between emphysema and fibrosis
Symposium Chairs: H. Wirtz (Leipzig, Germany), B. Crestani (Paris, France)
Aims: This symposium integrates novel aspects of the (patho)biology of profibrotic growth factors in lung injury, regeneration and repair. Recent investigations have demonstrated that plasticity and reversible transformation is an important cellular phenomenon in lung injury, i.e. progenitor cell recruitment and differentiation, or epithelial to mesenchymal transformation (EMT) in vascular and interstitial lung diseases.