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More severe scleroderma in African Americans linked to certain antibodies. |
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EurekAlert: The findings show that African-Americans had higher frequencies of certain scleroderma specific autoantibodies compared to Caucasians: anti-U3-RNP (40 percent vs. 2 percent), U1-RNP (16 percent vs. 7 percent) and anti-topoisomerase (27 percent vs. 21 percent). Anti-topoisomerase auto-antibodies in scleroderma are associated with a higher incidence of pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of the lungs) and greater disease severity, and in this study, African-American patients with this antibody had more frequent and more severe fibrosis than the Caucasians with this antibody.
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