Heart involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis-what have we learned about it in the last 5 years.

This review provides a detailed examination of original research and previously published reviews regarding cardiovascular involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Our study aims to evaluate the current understanding of SSc-associated heart involvement (SHI), focusing on its most prevalent forms, diagnostic methods and treatment options. A comprehensive search of PUBMED, Medline, Web of science, Scopus and DOAJ databases was conducted, involving articles published between January 2019 and August 2024, available in English, both original research and reviews.

Ro52/TRIM21 - From host defense to autoimmunity.

Ro52 (TRIM21) belongs to the ubiquitin ligase family. This protein plays a crucial role in many immunological processes, including antibody-dependent intracellular neutralization, synergy with the complement system, antiviral response, death mediation, oxidative stress response, and protein ubiquitination. Abnormal expression of TRIM21 can break immunological tolerance and lead to the production of autoantibodies against TRIM21.

Environmental exposures as risk factors for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a heterogeneous group of rare autoimmune diseases, with increasing incidence rates observed in the recent years. The pathogenesis of IIM remains not fully understood, and the interaction of genetic and environmental factors is suspected. It is unclear whether the observed upward trend in the IIM incidence is solely due to improved access to effective diagnostics or perhaps due to increased exposure to external risk factors.