2015 International Symposium on Dupuytren Disease
The May 2015 International Dupuytren Symposium in Groningen, The Netherlands was very productive. A textbook based on the proceedings is in the works. Video presentations are rolling out on http://Dupuytren.tv
Video: I was a Teenage Myofibroblast (and I loved it!)
Before becoming the villain in Dupuytren’s, the myofibroblast was really not a bad cell. What happened? What caused the change? Could it happen to you? Professor Sem Phan, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan explains almost everything in this presentation of “Mechanisms of Myofibroblast Differentiation”: http://www.youtube.com/user/DupuytrenFoundation#p/u/0/dsPwSUDrz1Y Funding for these and other Dupuytren Symposium videos is […]
The Secret Life of Myofibroblasts: Dr. Boris Hinz reveals all!
Boris Hinz, PhD, University of Toronto, Ontario, CA, presents “Fundamental aspects of myofibroblast contraction.” and explains how the process is simple and complex. How do these little cells do such big things? More importantly, what steps in the process go wrong to result in Dupuytren’s, and what can be done to safely correct this? Watch […]
Stretching, Myofibroblasts and Dupuytren’s
How, and why, does Dupuytren’s disease actually contract? What is the physical mechanism? What provokes it? There is a genetic risk, but genes don’t provide the entire script, otherwise Dupuytren’s contractures should be symmetric, the same problem developing at the same time in the same way in both hands, but that’s not what happens: usually, […]
Cellular biomechanics are the key to Dupuytren’s.
Dupuytren’s is truly a biomechanical process, and the ultimate process has to do with the way that fibroblasts and myofibroblasts attach to each other and physically attach to strands of collagen and other components of the tissue matrix which surrounds them. An investigation into the complex junction of living cells, strings of proteins and mechanical/chemical […]
Feedback Loops in Dupuytren’s
The best hope for finding a medical cure for Dupuytren’s and other fibrotic conditions is through a better understanding of abnormal cell signalling feedback loops regulating fibrosis. Cellular collagen metabolism regulation is not fully understood. Here are a few puzzle pieces. The protein transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß), among other things, signals myofibroblasts to produce […]
