Active clinical trials for "Scleroderma, Systemic"

The purpose of this study is to determine the timeline of progression from pre-pulmonary hypertension to diagnosable pulmonary hypertension based on right heart catheterization. Moreover, to determine the timeline for progression from diagnosable pulmonary hypertension to clinical worsening of disease as defined as death, hospitalization, or worsening of PHT symptoms.

This study is designed to explore the expression of cell-surface markers in the following seven disease areas: (a) systemic lupus erythematosus, (b) Sjogren's syndrome, (c) multiple sclerosis, (d) systemic sclerosis, (e) Crohn's disease, (f) ulcerative colitis and (g) inflammatory myositis.

This study aims to evaluate the utility of breath-holding test as a marker of pulmonary disease severity in patients with systemic sclerosis.

It is a study of basic research with mechanistically objectives and including clinical biological samples.

The aim of the study is to compare the effectiveness of commonly used immunosuppressant treatments for early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease with skin manifestations and may have pulmonary involvement. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may also be seen in scleroderma. Less is known regarding the prevalence of OSA in scleroderma and its association with pulmonary involvement.

The aim of the study is to determine if postocclusive hyperemia of palmar and dorsal face of the hand with Laser speckle contrast imaging discriminate between patients with systemic sclerosis, subjects with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and healthy subjects.

The prognosis of rheumatic diseases has improved considerably with development of therapy. However, infections are considered the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in this group of patients. One of the ways to prevent such complications is vaccination. In 2009, a new pandemic strain of influenza virus (A/H1N1/2009) has emerged raising major concerns for public health. Patients under immunosuppressive therapy have indication for immunization against influenza virus H1N1. There are, however, concerns about possibility of reactivation of autoimmune diseases, determine adverse events and insufficient immunogenicity in these patients. The lack of studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of the vaccine against influenza A(H1N1)/2009 in these rheumatic patients led to the development of this research. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the humoral response and safety of the vaccine virus A(H1N1)/2009 in immunosuppressed patients with rheumatic diseases compared to healthy controls. We have recruited 400 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 350 with spondyloarthritis, 1000 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 150 with dermatomyositis (DM), 100 with mixed connective tissue disease, 150 with systemic vasculitis, 250 with systemic sclerosis (SSc) , 100 with Sjögren's syndrome, 100 with antiphospholipid syndrome, 100 patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, 80 with juvenile SLE, and 80 with juvenile DM, followed at our Rheumatology Outpatient Division and Unit Pediatric Rheumatology Children's Institute, HC-FMUSP. The control group was recruited were 200 healthy employees of ICHC-FMUSP. Informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study was approved by the Local Ethical Committee. All subjects were vaccinated against influenza virus A/(H1N1)/2009 (vaccine approved and supplied by Instituto Butantan-São Paulo). Blood samples was collected to measure levels of antibodies inhibiting hemagglutination by influenza virus A (H1N1)/2009 immediately prior to vaccination and 21 to 28 days after vaccination., Participants fulfilled a questionnaire on the immediate side effects of the vaccine. All patients with rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, SLE, DM, systemic vasculitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile SLE, and DM were assessed before and 21 days after vaccination for clinical, laboratory parameters of disease activity as well as treatment. Continuous variables will be compared by t-test to evaluate differences between patients with rheumatic diseases versus healthy controls. Differences between categorical variables will be evaluated using the chi-square or Fisher exact test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Ve-cadherin is expressed in endothelial cells. Systemic slerosis is a rare auto-immune disease with a endothelial dysfunction. This study is to evaluated the level of soluble VE-cadherin and VE-cadherin antibody in patients with systemic slerosis.

To treat patients with scleroderma by blocking the expression of LOXL2. The investigators first need to confirm (through observation) that LOXL2 is overexpressed in disease.