TY - JOUR T1 - Towards a global initiative for fibrosis treatment (GIFT) JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00106-2017 VL - 3 IS - 4 SP - 00106-2017 AU - Maria Molina-Molina AU - Alvar Agusti AU - Bruno Crestani AU - David A. Schwartz AU - Melanie Königshoff AU - Rachel C. Chambers AU - Toby M. Maher AU - Rosa Faner AU - Ana Lucia Mora AU - Mauricio Rojas AU - Katerina M. Antoniou AU - Jacobo Sellares Y1 - 2017/10/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/3/4/00106-2017.abstract N2 - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive lung disease characterised by increased scarring of lung tissue. Despite the recent introduction of novel drugs that slow disease progression, IPF remains a deadly disease, and the benefits of these new drugs differ markedly between patients.Human diseases arise due to alterations in an almost limitless network of interconnected genes, proteins, metabolites, cells and tissues, in direct relationship with a continuously changing macro- or microenvironment. Systems biology is a novel research strategy that seeks to understand the structure and behaviour of the so-called “emergent properties” of complex systems, such as those involved in disease pathogenesis, which are most often overlooked when just one element of disease pathogenesis is observed in isolation.This article summarises the debate that took place during a European Respiratory Society research seminar in Barcelona, Spain on December 15–16, 2016, which focused on how systems biology could generate new data by integrating the different IPF pathogenic levels of complexity. The main conclusion of the seminar was to create a global initiative to improve IPF outcomes by integrating cutting-edge international research that leverages systems biology to develop a precision medicine approach to tackle this devastating disease.A novel call to action for implementing systems biology in IPF research http://ow.ly/Is0A30gpnVb ER -