Active clinical trials for "Scleroderma, Diffuse"

Scleredema is a scleroderma-like skin disorder appearing in 2.5-14% among patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus. This is a single centre study to screen consecutive patients with diabetes mellitus for the presence of scleredema,and to compare the clinical-laboratory data of patients with and without scleredema. Metabolic and vascular complications of these patients will be focused on.

Scarring of the lungs is common in patients with scleroderma and is one of the main causes of death. Patients with scleroderma very frequently have problems with their gullet (esophagus), the food pipe that leads into the stomach. Normally, a small circular muscle at the base of the esophagus opens to allow food to pass into the stomach and closes to keep the digestive fluids from flowing back up into the gullet. In patients with scleroderma, the muscle may become weak and no longer close properly. Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is the medical term for reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus. Our hypothesis is that small amounts of GER can move back up into the esophagus and get inhaled into the lungs, and may be one of the triggers for lung scarring. We propose to look for certain substances normally only found in the stomach in the "exhaled breath condensate" which is collected by breathing comfortably into a cooled cylinder, allowing the breath to condensate. In a smaller group of patients, we also plan to perform a bronchoalveolar lavage, a more widely studied test in which a small amount of fluid is introduced into a small part of the lungs through a fine tube, and then removed for examination, to evaluate whether the two tests provide similar measurements. We will also evaluate the correlation between these molecules and other tests, including lung function, and markers of lung scarring activity, and tests to look at how the esophagus is working so that we can get a clearer picture of how this affects patients' daily lives. Finally, we will be following up patients over time with lung function to see whether evidence of GER into the lungs is linked with a greater likelihood of worsening of lung scarring in the future.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether defects in fibrillin-1 cellular processing are present in the tsk1 mouse model that carries a known FBN1 gene rearrangement and in a population of Choctaw Native American patients with systemic sclerosis who have a strong genetic predisposition to the disease. II. Determine the ultrastructural features of fibrillin-1 in these patients. III. Screen the FBN1 gene for mutations beginning at the regions homologous to the tsk1 duplication and latent transforming growth factor binding proteins in these patients and in an unaffected Choctaw control group. IV. Determine the correlation between fibrillin-1 abnormalities and clinical presentation, autoantibodies, and ethnicity.

Systemic sclerosis is a rare pathology characterized by fibrosis and vascular lesion with skin, pulmonary, digestive and cardiac localisation. Calcinosis cutis is commonly described, but its prevalence and appear few documented in literature. Moreover, this studies used clinical observation to determine presence or absence of calcification, and rarely radiography, in particular for feet localisation. In the same way, skin calcification and organ injury association appear unclear. The aim of the study is firstly to determine prevalence of calcinosis cutis, with hand and feet radiography realisation in a cohort of systemic sclerosis patient. Secondly, will be determine the correlation between calcinosis and organ injury.

To compare the health related quality of life of patients with systemic sclerosis with other rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjogren's syndrome.

The overall objective is to propose a comprehensive analysis of the biological properties of the stromal vascular fraction evaluated in the SCLERADEC 2 clinical trial (n = 15 available) and preserved in the biological collection, compared to healthy donors (n = 10). This characterization will focus on the exploration of the phenotypic and functional characteristics of the main cellular subpopulations present in the stromal vascular fraction of scleroderma patients likely to be associated with a better regenerative vascular or anti-fibrotic activity of the cell therapy product. The main objective will be to validate whether the supposed mechanism of action of this innovative therapy, in relation to the representativity of the endothelial progenitors, carrying the vascular regeneration activity, is preserved in the sclerodermic context. A total of 30 subjects (20 systemic Scleroderma patients and 10 healthy donors) will be included.

Aim: to investigate the role of inflammation and auto-immunity in pulmonary arterial hypertension by using the profile of volatile organic compounds. Hypothesis: first, the investigators hypothesize that at time of diagnosis the VOC profiles will discriminate patients with PAH-CTD and idiopathic PAH (IPAH) from patients with systemic sclerosis or systemic lupus erythematosus (CTD) without PAH, supporting the contention that there is a overlapping inflammatory and auto-immune pathway in PAH. During follow-up, the investigators will measure the VOC profiles of patients in all three groups who will be treated according standard clinical care. The hypothesis is that VOC profiles are affected by therapy.

1.Assessment of slit2 level in SLE patients and its correlation with disease activity. 2-Assessment of slit2 level in SSC patients and its correlation with disease activity

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disease with undefined etiology and characterized by progressive fibrosis of the skin and major organs. Dry eyes and / or buccal syndrome is commonly reported in patients with systemic sclerosis. Goujerot-Sjogren syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disorder that is characterized by dryness of the eyes (xerophthalmia) and / or mouth (xerostomia). It may be primary or secondary to another connective tissue disease (such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or other). Several criteria have been validated to classify the SS but require a labial salivary gland biopsy, invasive act which complications can sometimes be reported (hematoma, lip sensory defect). Several scores based on the evaluation of the ultrasound homogeneity of the salivary glands were developed but no studies have evaluated ultrasound abnormalities of salivary glands in patients with systemic sclerosis.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of stress echocardiography, compared to standard echocardiography in the early identification of pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis. To evaluate the role of BNP in this setting.To analyze data recorded with respect to the parameters commonly used for SSc evaluation (eg thorax HRCT, pulmonary function tests + DLCO, nailfold capillaroscopy, etc); these parameters are available starting for 1999.