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Few scleroderma patients have antibodies directed specifically against the Ku antigen, but those who do, and have them as the only autoantibody present, are more likely to have interstitial lung disease and higher levels of a muscle degradation factor. Ku autoantibodies, as noted, are rare in people with scleroderma. The…

Protagen AG and Inova Diagnostics have signed a semi-exclusive license agreement for BICD2, a new autoantigen and the first proprietary biomarker discovered by Protagen using its SeroTag technology, a diagnostic platform. The newly discovered anti-BICD2 autoantibodies are found in about 30% of patients with…

A marriage or near-marriage relationship that is satisfying can considerably help to ease depression in women with systemic sclerosis compared to single woman with disease-related symptoms of depression, according to a study by researchers in Canada. But an unhappy marriage can amplify depressive symptoms in these women, reducing their ability to…

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), evaluated in 18 people with rapidly progressing systemic sclerosis, found the experimental therapy superior to standard treatments for the disease for this patient population. The retrospective report detailing these findings, “Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has better outcomes than conventional therapies in patients with rapidly progressive…

People with clinical manifestations that affect appearance, such as those with systemic sclerosis (SSc), are more likely to exhibit social avoidance behaviors due to body image concerns. In a recent study, the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group described a new scale able to measure social avoidance in patients with SSc, often called…

The Scleroderma Education Project recently released guidelines for patients and doctors wishing to know more about therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) as a treatment option for limited scleroderma. The guidelines are designed to facilitate data collection to support the launch of a randomized clinical trial, and follow the same setup as…

Project Scleroderma: Beneath the Surface has recently gained popularity, it was presented on the Oprah show and is highly anticipated by the scleroderma community. But what is this project and how was it started? Christy McCaffrey lost her mother to scleroderma in September of 2009 and she began…

A woman with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with the chemotherapy drug Xeloda (capecitabine) developed diffuse scleroderma — a condition never before linked to the use of this particular cancer drug. The study, “Scleroderma in a Patient on Capecitabine: Is this a Variant of Hand-Foot Syndrome?,” published in the…

Esbriet (pirfenidone) has an acceptable level of tolerability in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD), and may be tested for efficacy in future clinical trials in these patients, according to the results of a randomized Phase 2 study, the LOTUSS trial. The study, “An…

A study showed the effectiveness of hydrogen sulfide in a mouse model of scleroderma, and researchers in China suggest that the compound should be explored as a potential treatment for patients. The study, “The protective effect of hydrogen sulfide on systemic sclerosis associated skin and lung fibrosis in mice model,” published…