Active clinical trials for "Scleroderma, Systemic"

This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over phase 2 trial investigating the effect of C21 on cold-induced vasoconstriction in subjects with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis. The purpose of the trial is to achieve a vasodilatory effect in subjects with Raynaud's phenomenon by stimulation of the AT2R (angiotensin II type 2 receptor) with C21.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by excessive collagen deposition, autoimmunity and by vascular hyper-reactivity and obliterative microvascular phenomena that involves multiple organs. Scleroderma Renal Crisis (SRC) occurs in 5% of patients and mainly with diffuse cutaneous SSc. The routine use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) has been reported to dramatically improve outcome, with a fall of the 12-month mortality from 76% to less than 15% in the United-States. Despite prognostic improvement, SRC remains a severe manifestation of SSc and functional outcome and survival remains poor. Bosentan is a specific, orally active, dual endothelin receptor antagonist that has recently been approved for the treatment of primary pulmonary arterial hypertension and for the prevention of ischemic digital ulcers. Bosentan could have therapeutic benefits on others vascular injuries and particularly in SRC.

Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, is a chronic connective tissue disease generally classified as one of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases. The disease is characterized by thickening and fibrosis skin, affecting vessels and many organs such as the esophagus, stomach, bowls, lung, heart and kidney. The exact cause or causes of scleroderma are still unknown, but scientists and medical investigators in a wide variety of fields are working hard to make those determinations. It is known that scleroderma involves overproduction of collagen. FLICKMAN et al, in 1973 published an article about the role of lidocaine at prolyl-hydroxylase activity decrease, which is an important enzyme of collagen production. Until now, there is only a case series showing the improvement of thickening skin (75%) and esophagus symptoms (66%) after intravenous lidocaine 2% during 10 days. So it is necessary a RCT to prove these findings.

Digital ulcers (DUs) are an expression of the microangiopathy in patients with scleroderma (SSc). DUs lead to pain and impaired hand use. DUs remain a severe complication for many patients and effective therapy remains elusive. In the present study, the investigators propose to evaluate the efficacy of Sildenafil in DUs healing in a randomized double blind control study in SSc patients.

This study will evaluate the effect of treprostinil diethanolamine (UT-15C) sustained release tablets(compared to placebo) on digital ulcers in patients with scleroderma. Treprostinil diethanolamine is an analog of prostacyclin. Prostacyclin is a naturally occuring substance produced by the cells of blood vessels that inhibits platelet aggregation, induces vasodilation, and suppresses smooth muscle proliferation. Improvement in blood flow in lower limbs and fingers would be anticipated to result in a reduction in ischemic pain, Raynaud's phenomenon and promote healing of digital ulcers and other ischemic wounds.

Endothelin-1 is a potent vasoconstrictor and binds to two receptors, ET-A and ET-B, which are variable expressed on endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts. Furthermore, endothelin-1 has been found to be released in vitro by scleroderma fibroblasts and could contribute to the development of dermal fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Bosentan is a dual receptor antagonist, that competes with the binding of endothelin-1 to both receptors and has already been approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension in Europe, the US, and some other countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of bosentan treatment on skin fibrosis and functionality in patients with systemic sclerosis.

The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and tolerability of imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) in patients with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Gleevec is a medication already FDA approved for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans tumors, Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, hypereosinophilic syndrome, and aggressive systemic mastocytosis. In-vitro studies have suggested that imatinib may inhibit collagen production by scleroderma fibroblasts, and in mouse models of fibrosis imatinib has been shown to decrease skin thickness. This is a Phase IIa, single center, prospective open label clinical trial of Gleevec in patients with systemic sclerosis. All patients will be treated with active drug for 12 months. The primary objective of this study will be to determine the safety and tolerability of Gleevec in patients with systemic sclerosis, but important secondary outcomes of relevance will be improvement in disease status as defined by skin scores and indices of pulmonary function. Patients who complete the initial phase (described above) of the study will be eligible to participate in an extension phase. The purpose of the extension phase of the study is to give patients who participated in the phase IIa clinical trial of Gleevec at the Hospital for Special Surgery the opportunity to continue Gleevec treatment if both the treating physicians and the patient are in agreement that Gleevec had acceptable safety and tolerability, as well as possible efficacy during the initial year of therapy.

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is consistently over expressed in most fibrotic diseases and displays a variety of profibrotic effects in fibroblasts. Activation of TGF-β receptors induces the activation of several kinase signalling cascades leading to the phosphorylation of SMAD proteins as well as to the activation of SMAD-independent kinases that collectively activate ECM synthesis and fibroblast growth and differentiation into myofibroblasts. TGF-β1 is one of the main mediators in the fibrotic process, associated to both scarring and a long list of pathologies related to chronic inflammation and which affect all type of organs and tissues. An increase in TGF-β1 mRNA and protein levels has been described in these processes. Peptide 144 (P144) is the acetic salt of a 14mer peptide from human TGF-β1 type III receptor (betaglycan). P144 TGF-β1-inhibitor has been specifically designed to block the interaction between TGF-β1 and TGF-β1 type III receptor, thus blocking its biological effects. P144 has shown significant antifibrotic activity in mice receiving repeated subcutaneous injections of bleomycin, a widely accepted animal model of human scleroderma, and could contribute to the development. The purpose of this study is to asses the efficacy and safety of topical application of P144 in the treatment of skin fibrosis in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma) varies greatly in clinical manifestations, mode of presentation, and course. The natural history of this chronic autoimmune disease ranges from benign to fatal. Patients are classified into limited and diffuse scleroderma defined by the degree of skin involvement. Patients with limited disease (e.g. the C.R.E.S.T. syndrome) generally have mild disease and normal survival. However, patients with diffuse cutaneous scleroderma often have severe multi-system disease that is not only devastating emotionally and physically but is associated with a 60-70% five year survival and a 40-50% 10 year survival. No therapies have proven effective in the treatment of scleroderma. Strategy to treat scleroderma have included attempts to prevent fibrosis with drugs that interfere with collagen metabolism, attempts to modify the disease process by immunosuppression and attempts to alter the disease by vasoactive drugs. High dose of corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive drugs (e.g. chlorambucil, 5-fluorouracil, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine) used at conventional doses have not proven curative, but have shown some benefit for inflammatory features of the disease (e.g. arthritis, myositis, fibrosing alveolitis). Both allogeneic and autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) have shown to modify and in some instances reverse a variety of animal models of autoimmune disease. This has prompted many investigators to propose the use of peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for the treatment of autoimmune disease including scleroderma. Unfortunately, this approach risks infusing untreated autoreactive lymphocyte clones after the immunoablative preparative regimen. We have previously demonstrated that high-dose cyclophosphamide without BMT can induce durable and complete remissions in another autoimmune disease, severe aplastic anemia. Recent data with high dose cyclophosphamide show that it can induce complete remissions in other autoimmune hematologic disorders. The objective of this study is to determine whether high dose cyclophosphamide can induce a durable remission in scleroderma patients with life-threatening disease, and to determine toxicity of high dose cyclophosphamide in high risk scleroderma patients.

The purpose of the study is to examine the safety and effectiveness of a reduced intensity conditioning regimen and allogeneic bone marrow transplant for people with systemic sclerosis. In an allogeneic bone marrow transplant procedure, bone marrow is taken from a healthy donor and transplanted into the patient. Bone marrow can be donated by a family member or an unrelated donor who is a complete tissue type match. Participants will receive the chemotherapy and low dose radiation conditioning regimen consisting of the following: Fludarabine will be given intravenously for 5 days. Cyclophosphamide will be given intravenously on the first and second day. After completing the fludarabine and cyclophosphamide, patients will receive a single low dose of total body irradiation. The next day, patients will receive the allogeneic bone marrow transplant. On the third and fourth day after the transplant, patients will receive high dose intravenous cyclophosphamide. This is given to help prevent two complications: (1) graft rejection, which occurs when the body's immune system rejects the donor bone marrow, and (2) graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which is when the donor immune cells attack the patient's normal tissues. On the fifth day after the transplant, patients will start receiving two additional medications: tacrolimus and mycophenolic acid (MPA, Myfortic), to help prevent GVHD. Patients will receive mycophenolic acid for about 5 weeks and tacrolimus for about 6 months. Also beginning on the fifth day after the transplant, patients will receive daily injections of a growth factor called granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), which is a protein that increases the white blood cell count; G-CSF will be continued until the patient's white blood cell count has returned to normal levels. Patients will remain closely monitored either in the outpatient clinic setting or in the hospital for approximately 2-3 months after the transplant, but possibly longer if there are complications. Follow-up study visits will occur at 6 months and then at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years after the transplant. Study researchers will keep track of the patient's medical condition after leaving the transplant center by phone calls or mailings to patients and their doctors once a year for the rest of the study participants' lives.