A protein may be responsible for triggering lung scarring in scleroderma patients
Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, that affects organs including the skin, heart, kidney and lungs.
This form of scleroderma, this tightening and thickening of the skin, is a progressive, orphan illness that affects approximately 80,000 Americans and has no clear pathogenesis or FDA approved treatment option, leaving a proportion of patients affected to develop scarring so severe that they need organ transplants.
Lung fibrosis is the major cause of mortality in systemic sclerosis patients, with its prevalence on the rise and no way to stabilize or reverse the damage, according to Dinesh Khanna, M.B.B.S, M.S.c, director of Michigan Medicine s Scleroderma Program.
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Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, that affects organs including the skin, heart, kidney and lungs.
This form of scleroderma, this tightening and thickening of the skin, is a progressive, orphan illness that affects approximately 80,000 Americans and has no clear pathogenesis or FDA approved treatment option, leaving a proportion of patients affected to develop scarring so severe that they need organ transplants.
Lung fibrosis is the major cause of mortality in systemic sclerosis patients, with its prevalence on the rise and no way to stabilize or reverse the damage, according to Dinesh Khanna, M.B.B.S, M.S.c, director of Michigan Medicine s Scleroderma Program.