Andrea Lobo, PhD,  science writer—

Most people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) have fibrosis, or scarring, that affects the heart muscle, a study in Australia shows. In two-thirds of the cases, heart fibrosis had no other, or secondary, cause, helping to explain mortality and sudden cardiac death in these patients, according to the researchers. Lung…

Lung function decline among people with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) was significantly slowed over the course of about four years of treatment with Ofev (nintedanib), according to a new analysis of trial data. The analysis was based on changes in forced vital capacity, or FVC, a measure…

Wasting of the skeletal muscle, older age, being male, and having swollen joints are among the risk factors for primary heart involvement associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc), according to a study using a worldwide database. Particularly, intestinal symptoms, widened blood vessels underneath the skin, called telangiectasia, and older age…

People older than 65 and women are more likely to develop localized scleroderma, a study in the U.S. shows.The risk is lower in African Americans. A higher risk of the disease was also seen in people who are unemployed, whereas those with less educational achievements, those whoo have less…

Women have a nearly fivefold higher risk of developing systemic sclerosis (SSc), according to the findings of a nationwide study in South Korea that confirmed sex differences in the chronic autoimmune disease also known as scleroderma. The higher risk of SSc for females versus males was more notable in…

A Phase 1/2 trial testing Cabaletta Bio’s CAR T-cell therapy, rese-cel (resecabtagene autoleucel), in adults with hard-to-treat systemic sclerosis (SSc) is recruiting patients at several sites in the U.S. The open-label RESET-SSc trial (NCT06328777) is assessing the safety and efficacy of rese-cel as a single infusion into…

Treatment with Ofev (nintedanib) for up to four years was associated with a sustained slowing of lung function decline in people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) associated with interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD). That’s according to new results from the open-label study SENSCIS-ON (NCT03313180), a three-year extension of the…

Low levels of a type of white blood cell called natural killer (NK) cells may help diagnose pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in people with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a study in China suggests. In PAH, the blood vessels that supply blood to the lungs, called pulmonary arteries, narrow, restricting…

Autotaxin, a protein involved in wound healing and scarring, or fibrosis, was found at higher levels in women with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) than in men with the condition, per a new U.S. study. According to the researchers, “this study is the first to report sex-specific ……

Zura Bio has launched a Phase 2 trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of tibulizumab, its experimental dual pathway antibody to treat systemic sclerosis (SSc). The TibuSURE trial is expected to enroll as many as 80 adults with early diffuse cutaneous SSc. They will receive tibulizumab…