Scleroderma

Scleroderma is a chronic, often progressive, autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own body. The disease, which literally means "hard skin," can cause a thickening and tightening of the skin. In some cases it causes serious damage to internal organs including the lungs, heart, kidneys, esophagus and gastrointestinal tract. Some medicines and treatments can help with certain symptoms, but there is still no cure for scleroderma, which affects about 300,000 nationwide. (By way of comparison, about 50,000 people have muscular dystrophy, 250,000 are estimated to have lupus and 350,000 have multiple sclerosis.)

What is Scleroderma?

Scleroderma, also sometimes referred to as systemic sclerosis, is a chronic autoimmune disorder that involves progressive hardening of the skin. An excess of collagen and other connective tissues in the skin leads to a change in cellular structure and vascular of the tissues. Internal organs may also be affected in more severe cases.

Scleroderma Diagnosis

Scleroderma History

Pregnant women with autoimmune conditions at a greater risk of developing adverse pregnancy outcomes, study suggests

Researchers analyzed systematic reviews conducted on the association between autoimmune diseases and pregnancy outcomes.

8 Mar 2024

Is there a higher risk of depression among specific populations of patients with rheumatoid arthritis?

Researchers assessed the risk of depression following the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

8 Mar 2024

World-first discovery offers potential cure for lupus

Australian researchers have worked out how to fix a defect that causes lupus, and hope their world-first discovery will offer effective long-term treatment.

6 Feb 2024

Xist lncRNA identified as key trigger in female-biased autoimmune diseases

Researchers uncover that the Xist ribonucleoprotein complex, unique to females, is a key driver of sex-biased autoimmunity, offering new insights into autoimmune disorders' higher prevalence in women.

4 Feb 2024

X-chromosome inactivation and its role in autoimmune susceptibility in females

Somewhere between 24 and 50 million Americans have an autoimmune disease, a condition in which the immune system attacks our own tissues. As many as 4 out of 5 of those people are women.

1 Feb 2024

Autologous stem cell transplant shows promise for young patients with severe juvenile systemic sclerosis

New research at ACR Convergence 2023, the American College of Rheumatology's (ACR) annual meeting, shows that patients with refractory juvenile systemic sclerosis improved significantly on nearly all measures for two years following autologous stem cell transplant.

10 Nov 2023

Genetic causes of Raynaud’s phenomenon identified

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London’s Precision Healthcare Research Institute (PHURI) and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have identified the genetic causes of Raynaud’s phenomenon. Their findings, published today (12 October) in Nature Communications, could lead to the first effective treatments for people with Raynaud’s.

12 Oct 2023

EULAR releases new recommendations for non-pharmacological management of SLE and SSc

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by multisystem involvement. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) or scleroderma is another rheumatic autoimmune disease that affects blood vessels, skin, and visceral organs.

7 Aug 2023

Genetic reasons behind Raynaud's phenomenon discovered

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London's Precision Healthcare Research Institute (PHURI) and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have identified the genetic causes of Raynaud's phenomenon.

4 Aug 2023

Extracellular vesicles may drive fibrosis in scleroderma

Extracellular vesicles, responsible for cell-to-cell communication, might be a driver of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis, according to a recent paper in Arthritis and Rheumatology.

21 Jul 2023

Study finds improved survival in patients with SLE-associated PAH

A team from Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China, have explored changes in the characteristics, treatment, and 5-year survival for SLE-associated PAH in the last decade, and possible reasons for survival change.

2 Jun 2023

Study reveals synergistic impact of estrogen and intestinal dysbiosis on pulmonary fibrosis

In a recent study published in Cells, researchers evaluated idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) pathophysiological differences by sex and intestinal microbiome.

1 Mar 2023

Proteomics reveals a distinct IFN-driven plasma cytokine response to COVID-19 in infants and young children

Researchers assesses immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 shortly after birth using a multi-omics approach.

5 Feb 2023

Wearable activity tracker data can be used to obtain metrics associated with user's physical health

A new Johns Hopkins study shows that data gathered from wearable activity trackers can be used to obtain several metrics associated with the user's general physical health and cardiovascular health status.

20 Nov 2022

RIT professor receives grant to investigate new therapeutic approaches for scleroderma

More collagen in the human body is not always good, and Karin Wuertz-Kozak is investigating how disease progresses because of the increase in this important protein.

25 Oct 2022

Patients with scleroderma have reduced levels of Cathepsin L

Much of the research on scleroderma, a connective tissue disease that causes scarring, or fibrosis, has focused on the increased number of proteins promoting fibrosis in these patients. A Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) research team took a different tact and measured the levels of an antifibrotic protein, Cathepsin L, in these patients.

30 Sep 2022

Study identifies mechanism behind 'cytokine storm' in COVID-19 patient lungs

A new study by HSS Research Institute scientists identifies a mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 induces the inflammatory response in COVID-19 patient lungs, so-called "cytokine storm", that can lead to lasting tissue damage and poor patient outcomes.

13 Sep 2022

Chemokine-DNA nanoparticles can induce chronic, dysfunctional immune responses

Small proteins, called chemokines, that direct immune cells toward sites of infection can also form DNA-bound nanoparticles that can induce chronic, dysfunctional immune responses, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS).

15 Jul 2022

Elevated and sustained autoantibodies following COVID-19

A new study demonstrated that autoantibody levels rise following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and remain to be elevated for about six months.

10 May 2022

Urgent action needed to address disparities in women’s heart health

Investing in and improving research, awareness and equity in women's heart health are critical for the health and well-being of women, according to a new Presidential Advisory from the American Heart Association, published today in the Association's flagship journal Circulation.

9 May 2022