Liver disease, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease (ALD), autoimmune or drug-induced liver disease, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), represents a considerable public health burden. End-stage liver disease or cirrhosis accounts for 2% of deaths worldwide. Regardless of the type of liver disease, a significant driver of fibrosis in the liver is inflammation. Intravenous injection of the plant lectin Concanavalin A (Con A) in mice is a commonly used model of acute immune-mediated hepatitis and immune-mediated drug hepatotoxicity due to its rapid disease onset and clinically relevant disease mechanisms

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a severe, pathological condition in many respiratory diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a fatal lung disease. Patients present with a non-productive cough and dyspnea, and these symptoms gradually develop into severe dyspnea at rest and right heart failure. 

The bleomycin mouse model is frequently employed to investigate both acute inflammatory, and more chronic fibrotic, processes underlying IPF and to assess therapeutic efficacy of discovery candidates. In this study, we hypothesize that Vium’s automated biomarkers, specifically Breathing Rate, will provide physiologically relevant data to assess respiratory disease progression in a bleomycin mouse model of IPF.