Yossra Suliman, Suzanne Kafaja, Sunny J Oh, Mohamed Alemam, Gianluca Bagnato, Giuseppina Abignano, Ram Raj Singh, Gillian Barlow, Xiaochen Liu, Isela Valera, Walter Morales, Ali Rezaie, Mark Pimentel, Francesco Del Galdo, Daniel E Furst
BACKGROUND: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disorder and commonly presents with vascular system involvement and motility disorders in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Vinculin is a cytoskeletal protein that plays major roles in cell-cell adhesion and is expressed in the neuromuscular apparatus of the gut. Antibodies to vinculin have been identified as a biomarker of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Our aim was to evaluate serum anti-vinculin antibodies in patients with SSc. METHODS: Patients were recruited from two SSc centers: group I (GI-enriched group), University of Leeds, UK, and Group II (vascular predominant), University of California, Los Angeles...
November 24, 2020: Clinical Rheumatology