Aim: Endothelial dysfunction represents a key feature of the pathological process underlying micro and macro-vascular damage in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). This study aims to improve knowledge of the physiopathology of vascular damage in SSc through the assessment of the endothelial dysfunction by Flow Mediated Dilation (FMD) and serum levels of circulating endothelial dysfunction markers and the correlation of macrovascular damage with clinical findings and microvascular capillaroscopic patterns.
Methods: 57 SSc patients and 37 healthy subjects were recruited. All included subjects underwent radial artery FMD test and Nailfold Video-Capillaroscopy; serum levels of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and angiopoietin-2 were evaluated.
Results: Compared to healthy subjects, in SSc patients lower FMD and higher time needed to obtain the maximal FMD responsewere observed, whereas serum levels of VEGF, VCAM-1, and angiopoietin-2 were significantly higher. The impairment of FMD values was associated with disease duration, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and digital ulcers and correlates with greater microvascular damage evaluated by Nailfold Video-Capillaroscopy… An inverse relationship between VEGF, angiopoietin-2, VCAM-1 levels and FMD was observed, but only VEGF and angiopoietin-2 were significantly higher in patients with digital ulcers and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Conclusions: FMD ultrasound test and circulating levels of endothelial dysfuncion markers could be useful as biomarkers of vasculopathy and could be a helpful tool in the overall assessment of vascular injury in Systemic Sclerosis patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vph.2023.107252 | DOI Listing |
Microvasc Res
December 2024
Department of Cardiology, University Heart Center, University Hospital and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Center for Translational and Experimental Cardiology (CTEC), Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address:
Background And Aims: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease, characterized by widespread microvasculopathy and fibrosis. Vascular and endothelial cell changes appear to precede other features of SSc. Retinal vascular analysis is a new, easy-to-use tool for the assessment of retinal microvascular function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Rev Rheumatol
December 2024
Division of Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Front Immunol
December 2024
Department of Dermatology, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Cureus
November 2024
Department of Anaesthetics and Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU), Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, GBR.
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory, autoimmune demyelinating condition and poses diagnostic challenges due to varied presentations. This case report presents a divergence from typical clinical presentations of multiple sclerosis (MS), as the initial presentation resembled symptoms of a brain stem stroke. Conventionally, MS suspicion arises in the presence of previous neurological deficits or signs of optic neuritis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArthritis Res Ther
December 2024
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Amsterdam UMC, Meibergdreef 9, Room G7-126, Amsterdam, 1105 AZ, the Netherlands.
Background: This study aimed to assess the quantitative uptake of F-FDG PET-CT in the lungs of patients with early severe diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc) with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD), compared to controls. In patients with SSc-ILD, F-FDG uptake was correlated to high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters.
Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted, involving 15 patients with SSc-ILD, 5 patients with SSc without ILD, and 7 controls without SSc.
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