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

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21 Nov 2024

New EULAR recommendations provide updated treatment strategies for systemic sclerosis

SSc is a rare connective tissue disorder, with both autoimmune and vascular features. The main hallmark is tissue and vascular fibrosis that can result in clinical heterogeneity of manifestations across the skin and internal organs.

14 Oct 2024

Innovative nanotechnology offers new hope for fibrosis treatment

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso are developing a new therapeutic approach that uses nanoparticles for the treatment of skin and lung fibrosis, conditions that can result in severe damage to the body's tissues.

6 Jun 2024

New genetic discoveries offer hope for targeted lupus therapies

Lupus is a lifelong, often painful and occasionally lethal autoimmune disease. Few treatments exist today beyond powerful steroids to knock down a patient's immune system -; a therapy that has its own serious risks.

23 May 2024

How Cedars-Sinai continuously improves patients' interactions from check-in to discharge

Cedars-Sinai is marking Patient Experience Week 2024 with activities to honor team members and the impact they make in the lives of patients every day.

29 Apr 2024

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

Scleroderma

Overview

Scleroderma Diagnosis

Scleroderma History

Latest Scleroderma News and Research

Washington power has shifted. Here’s how the ACA may shift, too.

New EULAR recommendations provide updated treatment strategies for systemic sclerosis

Innovative nanotechnology offers new hope for fibrosis treatment

New genetic discoveries offer hope for targeted lupus therapies

How Cedars-Sinai continuously improves patients' interactions from check-in to discharge

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

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

World-first discovery offers potential cure for lupus

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

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

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

Genetic causes of Raynaud’s phenomenon identified

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

Genetic reasons behind Raynaud's phenomenon discovered

Extracellular vesicles may drive fibrosis in scleroderma

Study finds improved survival in patients with SLE-associated PAH

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

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

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

RIT professor receives grant to investigate new therapeutic approaches for scleroderma

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

Scleroderma

Overview

Latest Scleroderma News and Research

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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