PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Scleroderma, Systemic”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Collagen biosynthesis in systemic scleroderma: regulation of posttranslational modifications and synthesis of procollagen in cultured fibroblasts.

Activities of prolyl hydroxylase (PH), lysyl hydroxylase (LH), and the collagen glycosyltransferases and the extent of the posttranslational modification of lysine residues in newly synthesized collagen were studied in fibroblast cultures obtained from 9 scleroderma patients. The rate of procollagen synthesis had increased more than 3-fold in 3 scleroderma fibroblast lines, but had not changed to the same extent in the others, even though these did not differ from the "high-producers" histologically, clinically, or immunohistologically. The activities of PH and LH correlated significantly with the rate of procollagen synthesis in the same cell lines (p less than 0.001), but the glycosyltransferase activities were not elevated in the scleroderma fibroblasts. Further studies nevertheless indicated that the extent of the posttranslational modification of lysine residues had not significantly changed in the procollagen synthesized by any of the scleroderma fibroblasts investigated.

Adult↗

Control of fibrosis in systemic scleroderma.

Scleroderma is characterized by an excessive deposition of collagen in all involved organs. This is due to an overproduction of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules following induction of gene expression, whereas there is no evidence that the composition of the connective tissue matrix is altered. Several in vivo studies and in vitro experiments suggest that a close interaction between inflammatory cells and fibroblasts is required for the initial activation of fibroblasts. TGF-beta presumably plays an important role, but other cytokines, e.g., PDGF or FGF, may also be involved. Many of the ECM molecules have been shown to interact closely with fibroblasts and provide signals that regulate fibroblast metabolism. The cellular response towards those signals is a further aspect of fibrosis that has attracted attention during recent years. The altered expression of receptor proteins on the cell surface of scleroderma fibroblasts for example might explain in part the lack of down-regulation of collagen synthesis in late phases of the disease. This review summarizes the alterations of connective tissue in scleroderma, and discusses the role of cytokines as well as the ECM for the regulation of fibroblast function and their implication for the development of fibrosis.

Cells, Cultured↗