OBJECTIVES The differential expression of several accessory/activation molecules (CD26, CD29, CD45RA, CD25, MLR4, HLA-DR) on peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in patients with scleroderma was compared with that in controls and patients with other connective systemic diseases to look for evidence of the involvement of T cells in the disease process of scleroderma. METHODS The two co...

The pathogenesis of gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility in scleroderma is incompletely understood, although previous studies have proposed a neuropathic mechanism. We studied patients with scleroderma as compared with other connective tissue disease patients and normal controls for the presence of circulating antibodies to myenteric neurons. Serial dilutions of sera were overlaid on rat intestine...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine whether primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) is associated with scleroderma-like changes in nailfold capillaries. DESIGN Blinded, prospective, case-control study. SETTING University medical centers in Baltimore, MD. PATIENTS Thirty-seven patients with PPH, 15 patients with scleroderma, and 13 healthy control subjects. MEASUREMENTS Subjects underwent nailfol...

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease involving endothelial cell damage and fibroblast overproduction of extracellular matrix. Several autoantibodies present in the sera of patients with scleroderma, including anti-endothelial cell, antifibroblast, anti-matrix metalloproteinase, and antifibrillin-1 antibodies, may directly contribute to disease pathogenesis. Scleroderma also is characterized by ...

Since the earliest description of cardiac involvement in scleroderma by Heine (1926) and the subsequent emphasis on scleroderma heart disease by Weiss et al. (I943), a number of publications concerning the clinical features and pathological changes in this disease have appeared. The electrocardiographic abnormalities with or without clinical evidence of cardiac involvement in scleroderma have b...

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease with established Background relationship between immune cytokines and prognosis. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and investigate the causal relationship between cytokines and scleroderma diagnosis and to use this information to identify predictive biomarkers of scleroderma status. : Forty scleroderma positive patients and twenty-four healthy controls ...

Background: Association of Addison's disease with connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma and Sjogren have been rarely reported. Anti-centromere antibody (ACA) has been associated with exocrine gland dysfunction in anti-Ro, anti-La negative Sjogren’s syndrome and may be one of the causes of xerostomia in community. The purpose of this article was to introduce a rare case of scleroderma-S...

BACKGROUND Nodular scleroderma is a rare variant of scleroderma which can occur in connection with systemic sclerosis or morphea. A biopsy from the lesion can demonstrate the scleroderma pattern, i.e., keloid pattern or mixed type. Treatment is challenging, and several treatments modalities have been reported with unsatisfactory results. MAIN OBSERVATIONS We present a case of systemic scleros...

A 46-year-old woman who presented with progressive facial hemiatrophy (PFH) following localized scleroderma is described. The patient had a markedly deformed and depressed plaque surrounded by erythema on the right cheek. She also showed linear scleroderma with hair loss on the occipital area and morphea lesions on the neck and shoulder. Histological findings of the facial and other atrophic le...