Fibrosis is defined as an excessive deposition of connective tissue components and can
affect virtually every organ system, including the skin, lungs, liver and kidney. Fibrotic tissue …

From the clinical standpoint, systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by skin and internal
organ fibrosis, diffuse fibroproliferative vascular modifications, and autoimmunity. Clinical …

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is widely recognized as a core pathway of fibrosis.
Inhibition of TGF-β signaling may thus offer potential for antifibrotic therapies. Long-term …

Systemic sclerosis is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by a chronic and
frequently progressive course and by extensive patient-to-patient variability. Like other …

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a prototypical inflammatory fibrotic disease involving
inflammation, vascular abnormalities and fibrosis that primarily affect the skin and lungs. The …

Fibroblasts are key effector cells in tissue remodeling. They remain persistently activated in
fibrotic diseases, resulting in progressive deposition of extracellular matrix. Although …

One of the major disappointments in human autoimmunity has been the relative failure on
genome-wide association studies to provide “smoking genetic guns” that would explain the …

The role played by T1 IFN and its regulatory genes in SSc is becoming increasingly evident
and strikingly similar to the role observed in SLE. This observation, together with the benefit …

Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is an extra-thyroidal complication of Graves' disease (GD;
Graves' hyperthyroidism) characterized by orbital tissue inflammation, expansion …

Recent evidence suggests that neutrophils play an important role in the pathogenesis of
lupus. The goal of this study was to characterize the epigenetic architecture, by studying the …