Shin-Ya Kawashiri, Ayako Nishino, Takashi Igawa, Ayuko Takatani, Toshimasa Shimizu, Masataka Umeda, Shoichi Fukui, Akitomo Okada, Takahisa Suzuki, Tomohiro Koga, Naoki Iwamoto, Kunihiro Ichinose, Mami Tamai, Munetoshi Nakashima, Akinari Mizokami, Naoki Matsuoka, Kiyoshi Migita, Fumihide Ogawa, Satoshi Ikeda, Koji Maemura, Hideki Nakamura, Tomoki Origuchi, Takahiro Maeda, Atsushi Kawakami
OBJECTIVES: To identify prognostic factors among serum biomarkers and endothelial vasodilator function findings in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: This is a clinical observational study. We assessed 60 consecutive SSc patients (44 limited cutaneous-type, 16 diffuse cutaneous-type). Circulating growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), placenta growth factor (PlGF), endostatin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) were measured by ELISA...
April 12, 2018: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology