With time, in order to survive the changes in the environment, humans have evolved and modified their living conditions. But many changes come with high prices, one of which happens to be any autoimmune disorder that might persist for a long span of time or even a lifetime. Systemic sclerosis is one of them.Â
Physical health is a trend, and a trend needs a healthcare professional. But sometimes, a healthy outlook does not mean a healthy body. Certainly, there are many autoimmune diseases that fester in us, prompting health scares. Systemic sclerosis falls under one such category.
What is Systemic Sclerosis?
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multi-system autoimmune disease that is also referred to as Scleroderma. It occurs when auto antibodies formed by the immune system attack the skin’s connective tissue, which in turn produces an unhealthy amount of collagen, a protein. It causes fibrosis in the skin and internal organs with associated vascular and inflammatory manifestations, including the Rayaund’s phenomena. With progressive time, doctors have found multiple levels of SSc in different organs and have developed many medicines to minimise it.
SSc includes two groups of issues where Morphae presents the localised visible skin patches adhering to the second set of issues that occur Systemically (internal organs). Although there have been many cases where skin issues were absent, people were still found with this disease. Moreover, there are insurmountable numbers of patients who suffer with this disease for a lifetime, despite medical help.
Recent studies have found localized food causing different SSc in different parts of the world. According to the recent report, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved aTyr Pharma’s Life’s main medicine, efzifitimod, for Intestitial Lung Disease (ILD) associated with SSc. Currently, this medicine is being administered to patients suffering from pulmonary sarcoidosis.
 
Causes and symptoms:
Scleroderma causes multiple internal organ diseases which are repeatedly under study in order to provide better therapies for patients’ survival. As per studies, age and gender do not equate with each other. While this disease can occur at any age (rare in childhood), it has been found with a 4:1 gender ratio.
There are many reasons a patient might have developed an autoimmune disease, among which gender, ethnicity, and compromised or susceptible individuals make the priority list. Doctors and associations are working to identify events that trigger any reflux based on environmental factors.
Despite the availability of medicine, it is intervention on the part of the patient and their caretakers that can also account for the degree of development of the disease. When the patient lack a visibly compromised skin as symptom, other factors like GI issues, persistent breathing issues, severe heartburn, bowel dysfunction prompts them for a medical visitation. Even though SSc may be common and have skin symptoms that can be seen, it is clear that internal changes cause skin problems.
Gene sequence study:
Another recent study conducted at the University of Porto, Portugal, has reported that gene sequencing can help in identifying subsets of SSc. Originally, there were two types of subsets: limited, where scleroderma is milder and worsens over time, and diffuse, where it affects internal organs faster, causing symptoms to worsen and the condition to worsen. The clinical trial performed intends to demarcate the sites of presence and absence of protein, the leading cause of scleroderma. Barcoding the RNA sequences during the clinical trial indicated the differences in mRSS (modified Rodnan Skin Score, a measure of skin thickness) manifested the result where patients with an inflammatory pattern had a higher mRSS than those with other patterns. The study also found patients with fibro proliferate had signs of Interstitial Lung Disease.
 https://sclerodermanews.com/news/skin-genes-molecular-barcodes-distinguish-ssc-subtypes/
Intervention, prevention, and cure:
Several pharmaceutical companies and laboratories are working towards making life with SSc easier and bearable. Dealing with consistent and persistent symptoms of a disease without a cure needs a deep level of patience and understanding of the health scare. But even before that, one needs a timely intervention, which can happen if the individual seeks medical attention at the onset of any of the previously mentioned symptoms. Delays in medical intervention, can easily worsen the condition, specifically for patients who are severely susceptible.
Preventing the sudden onset of SSc is difficult, but mapping the trigger that easily leads to autoantibodies reacting with the immune system is the need of the hour. With the availability of advanced technologies, we can hope to achieve the required force that targets the exact cause and one day find an exact cure as well.
