NAC for the treatment of Dupuytren's and Ledderhose

So I have heard several different things out there of what people have tried and thought that today I would cover NAC treatment. Remember I am not a Dr and you should listens to yours. 


NAC for the treatment of Plantar Fibromas / Plantar Fibromatosis / Ledderhose Disease:

NAC is short for N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine but I will stick to calling it NAC. 

How and why does NAC help a plantar fibroma / ledderhose disease?: 

I am going to reuse an image that I have previously shown for Xiaflex and if my understanding is correct then replace Xiaflex with NAC. 

NAC has been tested in Dupuytren's disease cells (1) and it was shown that through the use of NAC the cells showed a down regulation in the TGF-B pathway and therefore it could be used as a therapy. 

Results?: 

As best I can tell there is not any real clinical data available for this however the International Dupuytren's Society show some data that they have collected from members of the forum (2). This data is from a very limited sample number but the results look promising in that most of the patients seem to respond positively with some reduction in size and hardness of the lump, including one with Ledderhose. 

My Summary: 

This may turn out to be something that can be used in the future, but as far as I can gather not much is being done at the moment and it seems that it is being taken orally which can have numerous side effects whilst perhaps if it could be made into an effective gel and used in a similar manner to Verapamil it might prove more effective. 

References: 

(1) Juergen Kopp et al. "N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine abrogates fibrogenic properties of fibroblasts isolated from Dupuytren's disease by blunting TGF-β signalling" J. Cell. Mol. Med. 10 (2006) pp. 157-165.


(2) International Dupuytren's Society study into the use of NAC to treat Dupuytren's and Ledderhose.