Systemic sclerosis - multidisciplinary disease: clinical features and treatment.

Systemic sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease of still not fully understood pathogenesis. Fibrosis, vascular wall damage, and disturbances of innate and acquired immune responses with autoantibody production are prominent features. Systemic sclerosis has specific subsets with different autoantibodies, and differences in the affected skin areas.

Potential occupational and environmental factors in SSc onset.

Introduction: Introduction and objective. Systemic sclerosis [SSc; scleroderma] is a rare, connective tissue disorder affecting all organs and systems. The primary feature of this disease is a chronic, progressive fibrosis due to excessive production of collagen and other components.