Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) Vasculopathy: Improved Clinical Monitoring and Treatment
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2019-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma) is a multi-organ systemic disease characterized by
activation of immune cells, which results in vascular dysfunction (vasculopathy) and
subsequent scarring (fibrosis). SSc has a higher than expect prevalence in the US military.
On a national level there are 5,766 SSc patients (ICD-9 710.1) presently cared for in the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA). While there is no cure for SSc, studies of therapeutics
that can help slow disease progression are valuable to our Veterans. This proposal addresses
the solicitation for projects with attention to SSc requested by President Obama after
reviewing potential contamination of water at Camp Lejeune. This proposal is a
patient-centered outreach for our Veterans with SSc to inform and prevent catastrophic
endstage vascular abnormalities, including digital ulcers, pulmonary arterial hypertension
(PAH) and scleroderma renal crisis in SSc. The study proposes a novel application of a
therapeutic for this disease. A better understanding of the initiating insult and natural
progression of SSc vasculopathy is needed in order to develop therapeutics with a goal of
curing/treating the underlying disease. This project has the potential to impact not only
Veterans with SSc, but also those with vascular abnormalities including digital ulcers, PAH,
and renal crisis. This proposal represents a potential major therapeutic advance for our
Veterans with SSc.