Systemic scleroderma. Multicenter trial of 1 year of treatment with recombinant interferon gamma.

Objective: To confirm significant improvement of the skin score in systemic sclerosis by treatment with interferon gamma in a larger group of patients and to investigate on a molecular level the influence of interferon gamma on collagen type I messenger RNA expression.

Design: Open, noncontrolled multicenter study.

Setting: Five outpatient clinics specializing in the care of systemic scleroderma.

Differentiation stage and cell cycle position determine the chemotactic response of fibroblasts.

Human diploid fibroblasts can migrate in vitro towards a variety of chemoattractants, including proteins of the extracellular matrix and certain growth factors. Fibroblasts of various differentiation stages differ according to morphology as well as biochemical and cell biological criteria. We have in the present investigation compared defined differentiation stages of human dermal and lung fibroblasts with respect to their chemotactic responsiveness towards platelet-derived growth factor and a fragment of fibronectin.

Transforming growth factor-beta controls cell-matrix interaction of microvascular dermal endothelial cells by downregulation of integrin expression.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is a pleiotropic regulatory factor of tissue remodeling. Angiogenesis, a prerequisite of tissue repair and tissue expansion, is induced by TGF-beta in vivo, while proliferation and migration of cultured endothelial cells are inhibited by TGF-beta. Indirect mechanisms stimulating angiogenesis and modification of TGF-beta effects by cell-matrix interaction have been postulated to account for this paradigm.

Biochemical events in cervical ripening dilatation during pregnancy and parturition.

In specimens taken from the posterior lip of the cervix uteri we determined the collagenase activity and the glycosaminoglycan concentration. In biopsies obtained from the lower uterine segment during cesarian section we measured cytokines (IL-8, IL-2, TNF alpha) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-8, MMP-9). We found that the release of collagenases is critically involved in the process of cervical dilatation.

[Pulmonary manifestations of systemic scleroderma: pathophysiologic and clinical significance of the activation of lung fibroblasts].

Fibrosing alveolitis (FA) is a common and often fatal complication of systemic sclerosis (SSC). The purpose of this study was to characterize the fibrotic process within the lungs using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). We investigated 25 healthy controls (CON) and 85 SSC patients.