About this Research Topic
Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by extensive fibrosis of skin and internal organs, microvascular abnormalities, autoimmune phenomena. To date, etiopathogenesis of SSc is still a obscure. Several factors have been shown to play a role in SSc, as autoimmune phenomena, environmental (infection, chemical etc) and tumor triggers, genetic background, vascular damage, primary fibroblast alterations. However despite the increasing body of data, generated in vivo and in vitro, SSc still remains an “elusive” disease and no effective therapy for SSc is available. This Research Topic will overview all these issues, trying to address all the recent advances in the field. Therefore, we expect to discuss humoral and cellular immune responses, genetics, experimental in vitro and in vivo models, role of infections, clinical feature, cell and vascular alterations. Briefly, we want to assess the current knowledge about SSc and try to bridge what we know with future directions and new therapeutical approaches.
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