Adipokines as Biomarkers of Severe Disease Manifestations in Systemic Sclerosis

  • Korman, Benjamin Douglas (PD/PI)

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

Systemic sclerosis (SSc, the systemic form of scleroderma) is a multisystem autoimmune disease which causes scarring (fibrosis) of the skin, lungs, heart, blood vessels, and other organs. SSc negatively impacts patients quality of life, has high mortality, no validated biomarkers, and no approved or effective therapies. I have shown that SSc patients consistently lose fat (adipose tissue) in their skin and other tissues. This proposal will test the hypothesis that serum adipokines (the hormone products of fat cells) can serve as biomarkers to predict severe internal organ complications and disease outcomes in patients with SSc. I will evaluate the correlation between serum levels of several key adipokines and severe internal organ involvement (skin disease, lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and heart disease) in 300 well-characterized SSc patients from the Northwestern Scleroderma Program. Because there are currently no validated biomarkers of SSc, this study addresses a critical unmet medical need, and positive results will lead to clinically meaningful results which will help improve the care of the patients with this devastating disease.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/1/1512/31/17

Funding

  • Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Master Agr. #5/Exhibit 3)

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