Scleroderma News

Systemic sclerosis was linked to alterations in the gut microbiota, according to recently published findings.

There was a high frequency of fingernail changes in patients with systemic sclerosis, and the changes were correlated with more severe forms of systemic sclerosis, according to study results published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

In Europe, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended approval for Ilaris in patients with tumor necrosis factor-receptor associated periodic syndrome, hyperimmunoglobulin D syndrome/mevalonate kinase deficiency or familial Mediterranean fever, according to a press release.

WASHINGTON — At the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Ashira Blazer, MD, of the Division of Rheumatology at NYU School of Medicine, reviewed her study on the genetics of atherosclerosis in African-American patients with lupus.

Based on a cohort in Minnesota from 1985 through 2014, researchers found the yearly occurrence of mixed connective tissue disease to be two people per 100,000.

WASHINGTON — At the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Dinesh Khanna, MD, rheumatologist and director of the scleroderma program at the University of Michigan, reviewed open-label extension data from the fasscinate trial. The trial was a phase 2 randomized controlled study of subcutaneous tocilizumab for patients with early systemic sclerosis (SSc) that was extended an additional 48 weeks from the initial 48-week period.

WASHINGTON — Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was associated with improvements in outcome compared to cyclophosphamide in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic scleroderma, according to study results presented at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting.

In looking for systemic sclerosis in 100 patients with primary biliary cholangitis, investigators who used the 1980 ACR criteria found a 1% prevalence compared with a 17% prevalence with use of the 2013 ACR and EULAR criteria and a 22% prevalence with use of the 2001 LeRoy and Medsger criteria.

Study findings in Taiwan suggest the risk for systemic sclerosis increases if a relative has the disease.

Added clinical context did not significantly improve overall intrarater and interrater reliability of digital ulcer grading, according to the results of a recently published study.