Targeting the jagged/notch pathway: a new treatment for fibrosis?

There is no treatment for fibrotic disease. TGFβ is known to promote fibrogenesis in vivo and in vitro, however, development of anti-fibrotic strategies targeting the TGFβ axis is problematic owing to the pleitropic nature of TGFβ action. Two recent papers (Kavian et al. 2010; Nyhan et al. 2010) suggest that the jagged/Notch pathway may selectively mediate fibrogenic properties of TGFβ and thus may represent a novel therapeutic approach to fibrosis for scleroderma and kidney fibrosis; these papers are the subject of this commentary.