The copper chelator tetrathiomolybdate regressed bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice, by reducing lysyl oxidase expressions.

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is characterized by an increase in the number of fibroblasts and an accumulation of collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix (ECM). The members of the copper-dependent lysyl oxidase (LOX) enzyme family regulate the collagen accumulation in the ECM. Tetrathiomolybdate (TM) is a copper chelator.