News

More than 700 medical experts, pharmaceutical executives, patient advocates, and others are expected to converge on Washington, D.C., next month for the 2018 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit. The Oct. 15-16 event, sponsored by the National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD), takes place at the…

The cytokines IL-1 and IL-17 seem to act together to induce fibrosis and inflammation in skin and organs in people with scleroderma (also called systemic sclerosis, or SSc), according to research done with mice and human cells. The study, “…

Evaluating changes in skin pigmentation could be useful for the management of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients, particularly to identify those at risk of developing digital ulcers, researchers suggest. This finding was reported in the study, “Association of skin hyperpigmentation disorders with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis:…

Autoreactive antibodies, or autoantibodies, were detected in the blood of patients with scleroderma (also called systemic sclerosis, or SSc) and shown to trigger proinflammatory and pro-scarring responses when added to skin fibroblasts from healthy subjects, researchers report. Their study, “Immune complexes containing scleroderma-specific autoantibodies induce a…

A case of acute renal crisis was reported in a patient with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc) positive for anticentromere autoantibodies. This rare case was described in the study, “A Case of Anticentromere Antibody-positive Scleroderma Renal Crisis Requiring Dialysis” that was published in the journal…

Fibrocell Science‘s gene therapy candidate FCX-013 received fast track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for moderate-to-severe localized scleroderma, which usually does not affect internal organs. The FDA’s latest move adds to its previously granted orphan drug and rare pediatric…

High-frequency ultrasound (HFU) of the skin can help evaluate the progression and define disease activity in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), researchers suggest. This noninvasive method was seen to have the potential to effectively and quantitatively measure skin thickness, representing an attractive strategy to objectively assess skin changes in patients…

The Scleroderma Foundation has named Lesley Ann Saketkoo, MD, as Doctor of the Year. This award is granted to leaders in the field who have demonstrated a commitment to the battle against scleroderma. Saketkoo is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is…

Patients with scleroderma and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have increased levels of two serum proteins, midkine (MDK) and follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3), according to a new study. The finding indicates that combined measurement of these biomarkers could quicken diagnosis. The research, “Serum biomarker for diagnostic evaluation…

A European Union study found that patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to scleroderma who undergo a kidney transplant have a greater chance of surviving for five years or more, compared to those who receive renal replacement therapy (RRT) only — a treatment involving dialysis, which consists of long-term…