Oral cyclophosphamide improves pulmonary function in scleroderma patients with fibrosing alveolitis: experience in one centre.

Lung involvement constitutes nowadays the major cause of morbidity and mortality in scleroderma patients. Pulmonary fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is thought to be the consequence of interstitial inflammation. Early diagnosis and treatment of active alveolitis is essential to prevent the deterioration of pulmonary function, improving outcome in SSc patients.

HLA class II antigens associated with lupus nephritis in Italian SLE patients.

Human leukocyte antigen DR2 (HLA-DR2), namely the allelic variant HLA-DR15, have been associated with lupus nephritis (LN) in Caucasians. The study investigated the relationships between HLA class II alleles and lupus nephritis in Italian patients. Two hundred forty-four patients fulfilling the American Rheumatism Association criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were typed for HLA-DRB1*, -DQA1*, -DQB1*, and -DPB1* alleles by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide and polymears chain reaction-single-strand polymorphism; 71 patients had renal damage assessed by renal biopsy.

Post-menopause is the main risk factor for developing isolated pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis.

In scleroderma patients, isolated pulmonary hypertension (PHT) has been associated with selected HLA haplotypes, severe impairment of the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and the diagnosis of CREST. Most patients with CREST have a late-age onset of the disease, corresponding to the perimenopausal or postmenopausal period. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine the role of post-menopause and of the other known clinical and biological markers in the development of isolated pulmonary hypertension in Italian patients with systemic sclerosis.