Scleroderma cure on the horizon

Scleroderma is one of those rare diseases which has eluded the medical experts as there is no cure for it as yet. Although it’s rare but Scleroderma is often fatal as it causes the swelling of vital tissues. But all that stands to change as a group of researchers is actively working towards finding a cure. So far the group has identified the trigger mechanism for the disease and the chemical compounds that can ward it off. "Our findings provide a new approach to developing better treatment options where few have existed," said Richard Neubig, chairperson of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine.

 

Neubig is helming a team of his colleagues from university of Michigan that are seeking to root out Scleroderma. "There are two kinds of scleroderma -- localized and systemic -- with the latter often proving to be life threatening," said Neubig. "This research shows that by inhibiting this main signaling pathway, we can block fibrosis -- the thickening of tissue that occurs with the disease." For patients suffering localized Scleroderma the disease takes root in the skin causing loss of flexibility and mobility. The same goes for systematic sclerosis has the same effect but has a tendency of spreading out and effecting the vital organs of the body such as heart, lungs, guts and kidney hardening them. 

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disorder which effects around 300,000 Americans out of which one third have systemic form. Patients suffering from localized Scleroderma usually are not at a greater risk and have normal lifespans but in stark contrast more than half of systemic patients which suffer from widespread skin involvement and internal organ fibrosis have their lifespan cut short. 

"The majority of drug treatments that exist today for fibrosis basically look at reducing just the inflammation," said Dinesh Khanna, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and director of the Scleroderma Program at the University of Michigan. "There are other drugs that block one or two of the signaling pathways that cause the disease, but scleroderma has many of these pathways."

"Our research shows promise for the development of a new drug that can reverse the fibrosis process by flipping the main switch on all of the signaling pathways," Neubig said. "By validating this core switch as a viable drug target, we can now continue our work to improve the chemical compounds so they will work with doses that are appropriate for people. It's definitely promising."