Author Archives: Ana Pena, PhD

Researchers have come up with a new, patient-reported questionnaire to measure the impact of digital ulcers on hand function in people with scleroderma. The questionnaire, “Hand Disability in Systemic Sclerosis-Digital Ulcers (HDISS-DU),” was developed using patient interviews and trial data. It can be useful in evaluating the…

A specific variant in the STAT4 gene protects people with scleroderma against the development of interstitial lung disease (ILD), a new study in patients of European descent suggests. However, more and larger studies are needed to identify the genetic risk factors that make some people with scleroderma…

An advanced imaging technique, called ultra-high-frequency ultrasound (UHF-US), provides detailed information of all skin layers to better detect and characterize skin involvement in people with scleroderma, a pilot study reports. The ability of this technology to precisely measure damage in the dermis, the skin’s inner layer, may be…

Black patients with scleroderma experience faster disease progression, higher prevalence of diffuse skin involvement, and higher mortality than Asian or white patients, a study reports. In addition, Asian patients were found to have earlier disease onset, faster disease course, and more lung involvement and pulmonary hypertension…

People with systemic scleroderma (SSc) can be prone to problems in the small airways, which can contribute to the cases of lung disease observed in this population, new research found. Airway dysfunction can be detected by impulse oscillometry, a noninvasive and simple…

Older men with diffuse cutaneous systemic scleroderma (dcSSc) have more estradiol, a form of estrogen, compared with postmenopausal women with the disease, which may explain why scleroderma tends to be more severe in men, a study has found. Researchers also found that male patients with higher levels of…

Certain cytokines of the IL-1 family may play important and distinct roles in the development of systemic scleroderma (SSc), in particular IL‐1β, which may contribute to worse tissue scarring, a study suggests. The findings appeared in the report, “Analysis of serum interleukin(IL)‐1α, IL‐1β and IL‐18 in patients…

TLY012, a lab-made equivalent of a natural protein called TRAIL, can reverse skin fibrosis in mice with scleroderma by blocking important cells involved in the underlying mechanism of skin scarring, a research study found. Targeting TRAIL pathway and this novel engineered molecule may represent a promising anti-fibrotic strategy to arrest scleroderma in…

Among patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), those who have pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have a distinct pattern of active and silent genes compared with those who develop interstitial lung disease (ILD), a preliminary…

IGFBP-5, a protein that appears to be involved in the early stages of fibrosis, may be a potential therapy for lung fibrosis, new preclinical research done at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) found. Using human lung fibroblasts and lung…