Method for the treatment of fibrosis

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of treating fibrosis in a human or animal subject. The method comprises administering to the subject an effective amount of an antibody to an integrin or fragment thereof.

1 . A method for treating a subject suffering from a fibrotic condition, comprising administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition, the pharmaceutical composition comprising an antibody molecule that antagonizes an interaction of α1β1 with its ligand.  
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the antibody is selected from the group consisting a human antibody or a fragment of a human antibody, a chimeric antibody or fragment of a chimeric antibody, or a humanized antibody and fragments thereof or a fragment of a humanized antibody.  
     
     
         3 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the antibody is a monoclonal antibody.  
     
     
         4 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the antibody or antibody fragment is administered to the subject (a) around once or twice approximately every seven days (b) in an amount of between about 0.3 mg/kg/day to about 5 mg/kg/day.  
     
     
         5 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the subject is a human.  
     
     
         6 . (canceled)  
     
     
         7 . (canceled)  
     
     
         8 . (canceled)  
     
     
         9 . (canceled)  
     
     
         10 . (canceled)  
     
     
         11 . (canceled)  
     
     
         12 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the composition is administered parenterally.  
     
     
         13 . (canceled)  
     
     
         14 . (canceled)  
     
     
         15 . A method for treating a subject suffering from a fibrotic condition, comprising administering to the subject an antibody or fragment of an antibody selected from the group consisting of AQC2 (ATCC PTA-3580); AJH10(ATCC PTA-3580); 1B3.1 (ATCC No. HB10336); or TS2/7.1 (ATCC No. HB-245).  
     
     
         16 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the subject suffers from fibrosis of an internal organ.  
     
     
         17 . A method of  claim 16 , wherein the internal organ is the liver, kidney, heart blood vessels, or gastrointestinal tract.  
     
     
         18 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the subject suffers from myelofibrosis, liver cirrhosis, mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, crescentic glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, renal interstitial fibrosis, or HIV associated nephropathy.  
     
     
         19 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the fibrosis is dermal fibrosis.  
     
     
         20 . A method of  claim 19 , wherein the subject suffers from scleroderma, morphea, keloids, hypertrophic scars, familial cutaneous collagenoma, or connective tissue nevi of the collagen type.  
     
     
         21 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the fibrosis is fibrosis of the eye.  
     
     
         22 . A method  claim 21 , wherein the subject suffers from diabetic retinopathy, postsurgical scarring, or proliferative vitreoretinopathy