People with systemic sclerosis (SSc) face significantly worse sleep quality than those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy people, a study reports. Poor sleep hygiene and clinical factors, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, that is, acid reflux, and depression-like symptoms, were key contributors. These findings highlight how “enhancing sleep hygiene…
The presence of different autoantibodies specific to systemic sclerosis (SSc) can determine how the disease is likely to progress in terms of how patients feel or function, which could affect findings in placebo groups in randomized clinical trials and determinations of benefit with an experimental therapy, a study indicates.
Immunosuppressive medications may help to reduce inflammation in the heart and the overall burden of primary heart involvement that is associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a retrospective study suggests. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings, its researchers stated. The study, “Immunosuppressive therapy to treat newly diagnosed…
The CCL2 gene, which codes for a signaling protein of the same name, is “a common characteristic gene” of both systemic sclerosis (SSc) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a serious complication of SSc that causes the lungs to become inflamed and scarred, according to…
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 ……
Scleroderma (SSc) patients who’ve had a scleroderma renal crisis, a life-threatening complication of SSc, have higher levels of placental growth factor (PIGF), protein that stimulates blood vessel growth, in their blood than those who haven’t had one, a study in France shows. Among French patients who’d had a…
Organ involvement and outcomes among people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) are strongly associated with seven specific self-reactive antibodies, a French study has found. Among their findings, researchers identified antibodies that targets RNA polymerase III as strongly associated with scleroderma renal crisis, a rare and severe manifestation of SSc marked…
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…
Reduction in skin thickness may indicate better lung health and survival outcomes in people with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), according to an analysis of patients from the European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) registry. “Skin regressive patients have a lower probability of lung progression, better survival,” the investigators…
Interstitial lung disease (ILD), a condition in which scarring damages lung tissue and makes breathing difficult, may appear several years after other symptoms of scleroderma (SSc) start, a study reported. Late-onset ILD in SSc was similar lung in severity and progression to the early-onset presentation. “Surveillance for incident…
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