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Background and Aim: Iloprost is recommend worldwide for the treatment of RP and the healing of DUs. The aim of this study is to report the regimens of Iloprost administered in different rheumatological centers within the same regional Health System Methods: A questionnaire exploring different items related to the use of Iloprost was developed and reviewed by three expert rheumatologists. The questionnaire was distributed as an online survey to all local SSc referral centers in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). Data are reported as percentage or median with interquartile range (IQR), as appropriate. An updated review of world literature on this topic was also carried out., Results: All the invited centers completed the survey. There were both local (8) and university hospitals (4). The majority (58%) had a rheumatologist as head physician. All centers used Iloprost: a single monthly administration was the most common treatment (75%). The cycle lasted 1 [IQR 1-2] days with a 0.5-2.0 ng/Kg/min dose according to the drug tolerance of the patients. There were overall 68 spots (beds, reclining armchair, or simple armchair); 2.0 [1.5-4.0] patients were able to receive Iloprost at the same time. University Hospitals had more physicians at their disposal than local hospitals but less paramedic personnel (respectively: 1.8 vs 1.2 physicians, 1.5 vs 2.1 nurses)., Conclusions: These observations were in line with the majority of previous studies reporting different regimens, comparing similar (but not identical) dose and schedule administration, however, despite differences being at times substantial, no standard infusion method is yet available.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has impacted health across all sectors of society. A cytokine-release syndrome, combined with an inefficient response of innate immune cells to directly combat the virus, characterizes the severe form of COVID-19. While immune factors involved in the development of severe COVID-19 in the general population are becoming clearer, identification of the immune mechanisms behind severe disease in oncologic patients remains uncertain., Methods: Here we evaluated the systemic immune response through the analysis of soluble blood immune factors and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within the early days of a positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic in oncologic patients., Results: Individuals with hematologic malignancies that went on to die from COVID-19 displayed at diagnosis severe leukopenia, low antibody production against SARS-CoV-2 proteins, and elevated production of innate immune cell recruitment and activation factors. These patients also displayed correlation networks in which IL-2, IL-13, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and FGF2 were the focal points. Hematologic cancer patients that showed highly networked and coordinated anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody production, with central importance of IL-4, IL-5, IL-12A, IL-15, and IL-17A, presented only mild COVID-19. Conversely, solid tumor patients that had elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-6, CXCL8, and lost the coordinate production of anti-virus antibodies developed severe COVID-19 and died. Patients that displayed positive correlation networks between anti-virus antibodies, and a regulatory axis involving IL-10 and inflammatory cytokines recovered from the disease. We also provided evidence that CXCL8 is a strong predictor of death for oncologic patients and could be an indicator of poor prognosis within days of the positive diagnostic of SARS-CoV-2 infection., Conclusion: Our findings defined distinct systemic immune profiles associated with COVID-19 clinical outcome of patients with cancer and COVID-19. These systemic immune networks shed light on potential immune mechanisms involved in disease outcome, as well as identify potential clinically useful biomarkers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Pignataro-Oshiro, Figueiredo, Galdino, Morais, Dutra, Silva, Feriani, Abrantes, Silva, Filho, Framil, Cesca, Riechelmann, Batista and Gollob.)

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by very heterogeneous features. The spectrum of this disorder may vary from benign but disabling symptoms such as dryness, due to lachrymal and salivary involvement, pain and fatigue, to systemic, potentially severe, manifestations that may involve any organ. In recent decades, the arrival of biotechnological therapy has offered new opportunities for the treatment of this-until now-orphan disease. Currently, the possible use of these new drugs in therapeutic trials has made it necessary to have reliable outcome measures to evaluate their efficacy in this disease. A great effort has been made in multicenter, often multinational, studies to develop and validate instruments capable of assessing the different disease-related features. The adoption in therapeutic trials of the newly developed outcome measures aimed at assessing systemic features and patient reported symptoms has often yielded disappointing results. These negative data have been ascribed, on the one hand, to the trial design not being completely appropriate, and, on the other hand, to the fact that a single instrument may be not sufficient to cover the great clinical heterogeneity of the disease features. There is now growing belief that composite end points that include instruments that are able to assess the various aspects of the disease may be more properly and successfully used in future therapeutic trials.

In view of the new possibilities for the treatment of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) given by the availability of new biotechnological agents targeting the various molecular and cellular actors of the pathological process of the disease, classification criteria aimed at selecting patients to be enrolled in therapeutic trials, and validated outcome measures to be used as response criteria to these new therapies, have been developed and validated in the last decades. Unfortunately, the therapeutic trials so far completed with these new treatments have yielded unsatisfactory or only partially positive results. The main issues that have been evoked to justify the poor results of the new therapeutic attempts are: (i) the extreme variability of the disease phenotypes of the patients enrolled in the trials, which are dependent on different underlying patterns of biological mechanisms, (ii) the fact that the disease has a long indolent course, and that most of the enrolled patients might already have irreversible clinical features. The advances in the research of new disease biomarkers that can better distinguish the different clinical phenotypes of patients and diagnose the disease in an earlier phase are also discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Vitali, Minniti, Pignataro, Maglione and Del Papa.)

There is a great deal of evidence pointing to interferons (IFNs) as being key cytokines in the pathogenesis of different systemic autoimmune diseases, including primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). In this disease, a large number of studies have shown that an overexpression of type I IFN, the 'so-called' type I IFN signature, is present in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and that this finding is associated with the development of systemic extra-glandular manifestations, and a substantial production of autoantibodies and inflammatory cytokines. In contrast, the absence or a milder expression of type I IFN signature and low level of inflammatory cytokines characterizes patients with a different clinical phenotype, where the disease is limited to glandular involvement and often marked by the presence of widespread pain and depression. The role of type II (IFNγ) in this subset of pSS patients, together with the potentially related activation of completely different immunological and metabolic pathways, are emerging issues. Expression of both types of IFNs has also been shown in target tissues, namely in minor salivary glands where a predominance of type II IFN signature appeared to have a certain association with the development of lymphoma. In view of the role played by IFN overexpression in the development and progression of pSS, inhibition or modulation of IFN signaling has been regarded as a potential target for the therapeutic approach. A number of therapeutic compounds with variable mechanisms of action have been tested or are under consideration for the treatment of patients with pSS.

Background: Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) is a feasible method that allows the observation of the microvascular changes that mark the course of systemic sclerosis (SSc). In previous studies, we demonstrated that the NEMO score, i.e. the cumulative number of microhaemorrhages and microthromboses, is a good indicator of the steady-state level and overtime changes of disease activity (DA) in SSc., Objectives: To verify whether high NEMO scores, which mirror a very active microvascular derangement in the fingers, may be associated with the subsequent development of ischaemic digital ulcers (IDUs)., Methods: The NEMO score was assessed at baseline (T0) in 98 patients with SSc, all classified according to the ACR-EULAR criteria. Of them, 90 were females, 48 had the limited and 50 had the diffuse cutaneous variant of SSc. Afterwards, the patients were closely followed up for 2 years, and the appearance of new IDUs recorded at any time of the follow-up. The T0-NEMO score values of patients who developed IDUs were compared to those of patients who did not. A receiver operating curve (ROC) was constructed, and the area under the curve (AUC) calculated by plotting the sensitivity and 1-specificity of the different NEMO score values in predicting the subsequent development of IDUs., Results: During the follow-up, 38 out of 98 patients developed one or more IDUs. The NEMO score at T0 was significantly higher in those who developed IDUs with respect to those who did not [median 14.5 (95% CI 11.0-21.5) and 4.5 (95% CI 4.0-6.0), respectively, p < 0.0001]. The ROC curve derived from different T0-NEMO score values had an AUC of 0.79 (95% CI 0.69-0.86, p < 0.0001). A NEMO score of ≥ 12 had a sensitivity of 83.3% (95% CI 71.5-91.7) and a specificity of 63.2% (95% CI 46.0-78.2), with positive (P) and negative (N) predictive (PV) values of 58.9% (95% CI 44.7-72.2) and 85.6% (71.8-94.4), respectively. A NEMO score of ≥ 16 had a sensitivity of 95.0% (95% CI 86.1-99.0) and a NPV of 93.4% (77.5-99.2)., Conclusions: Being a valid tool to measure DA levels in SSc, the NEMO score also appears to be closely related to the subsequent development of IDUs in this disease.

Background: Mortality rate in patients infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be related to the presence of comorbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. On the contrary, few data exist on the impact of CoronaVirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on patients with rheumatic disorders, namely in those having pulmonary involvement and treated with immunosuppressive agents. The present survey is aimed at knowing the impact of COVID-19 in a cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)., Methods: Telephone interviews were carried out during the COVID-19 outbreak in patients with SSc followed in a Rheumatic Disease Unit in Italy. Patients were asked for confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, and modification of their therapy., Results: A total number of 526 patients with SSc were contacted and interviewed. Of them, 270 and 256 had limited cutaneous and diffuse cutaneous SSc, respectively. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) was present in 45% of patients and most of them (68.2%) were treated with immunosuppressive therapy. Only two patients were hospitalized for COVID-19-related pneumonia, and one of them died despite invasive ventilator support. An additional 11 patients reported flu-like symptoms compatible with a mild form of COVID-19. Nobody modified the therapy during the COVID-19 outbreak., Conclusion: Despite the large prevalence of ILD and immunosuppressive therapies, which can be considered risk factors for the occurrence and severity of incidental viral infections, the impact of COVID-19, in terms of mortality rate and morbidity, does not appear particularly severe in this large cohort of patients with SSc. Possible mechanisms influencing this figure are discussed., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), 2020.)

This study aims to assess the peripheral blood cell count "signature" of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to discriminate promptly between COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). We designed a retrospective case-control study, enrolling 525 patients (283 COVID-19 and 242 with CAP). All patients had a fever and at least one of the following signs: cough, chest pain, or dyspnea. We excluded patients treated with immunosuppressants, steroids, or affected by diseases known to modify blood cell count. COVID-19 patients showed a significant reduction in white blood cells (neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils) and platelets. We studied these parameters univariately, combined the significant ones in a multivariate model (AUROC 0.86, Nagelkerke PSEUDO-R2 0.5, Hosmer-Lemeshow p -value 0.9) and examined its discriminative performance in an internally-randomized validation cohort (AUROC 0.84). The cut-off selected according to Youden's Index (-0.13) showed a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 72% in the training cohort, and a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 73% in the validation cohort. In addition, we determined the probability of having COVID-19 pneumonia for each Model for possible Early COvid-19 Recognition (MECOR) Score value. In conclusion, our model could provide a simple, rapid, and cheap tool for prompt COVID-19 diagnostic triage in patients with CAP. The actual effectiveness should be evaluated in further, prospective studies also involving COVID-19 patients with negative nasopharyngeal swabs.

Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) is an easy tool used for the assessment of patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) as possibly associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Recent insights have also highlighted its role in the diagnostic assessment of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). The aim of this study is to describe the diagnostic role of NVC in a series of 361 consecutive patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). All the patients were assessed by clinical pulmonary and rheumatic examinations, blood exams, high-resolution computed tomography and NVC. NVC was considered positive only in the presence of avascular areas or giant capillaries, but also, the presence of bushy capillaries (BCs) was recorded. NVC was positive in 17.7% of ILD patients and in 78.1% of ILD patients associated with a diagnosis of connective tissue disease (CTD). In 25% of SSc-ILD patients, NVC proved necessary for a correct diagnosis. The presence of BCs and/or NVC positivity in ILD patients with normal levels of creatine phosphokinase is associated with amyopathic IIM, regardless the presence of RP. In conclusion, NVC is useful for the diagnostic assessment of incomplete forms of CTD and in amyopathic IIMs. NVC should be considered in the diagnostic assessment of ILD patients regardless of the presence of RP., Competing Interests: C.V. is part of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Scientific board. He has received consulting fees and/or speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Menarini. The authors G.S., D.S., A.L., G.V., Fa.P., Fr.P., N.D.P., M.F., E.F. and E.G. declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the main cause of death in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. Usually, patients have lung involvement characterized by ground glass opacities (GGOs), but honeycombing (HC) is also possible. The Wells score is a semi-quantitative index, which is able to assess ILD by distinguishing its main components. The aim of this work is to evaluate the Wells score in relation to the disease activity (DA) index. We enrolled 40 consecutive SSc-ILD patients (26 diffuse cutaneous form, dcSSc, and 14 limited form, lcSSc). All patients were evaluated by the European Scleroderma Study Group (ESSG) index, high-resolution computed tomography, transthoracic echocardiogram, pulmonary function tests (PTSs), and nailfold videocapillaroscopy for the number of microhemorrhages (NEMO) score. In our study, the total extent of ILD (TE-ILD), fibrosis and GGOs correlated with dyspnea ( p = 0.03, 0.01 and 0.01 respectively), but not with the ESSG index. Considering only the dcSSc patients, TE-ILD and GGOs correlated with the ESSG index (r = 0.5 p = 0.009), while fibrosis grade correlated with disease duration and systolic pulmonary artery pressure. In conclusion, our data suggest that GGO correlates with DA, while fibrosis may be a sign of disease damage. The quantification of pulmonary involvement using the Wells score can be a useful tool for assessing the appropriate treatment in SSc patients.

The diagnostic assessment of patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) can be challenging due to the large number of possible causes. Moreover, the diagnostic approach can be limited by the severity of the disease, which may not allow invasive exams. To overcome this issue, the referral centers for ILD organized Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs), including physicians and experts in complementary discipline, to discuss the management of doubtful cases of ILD. MDT is currently considered the gold standard for ILD diagnosis, but it is not often simple to organize and, furthermore, rheumatologists are still not always included. In fact, even if rheumatologic conditions represent a common cause of ILD, they are sometimes difficult to recognize, considering the variegated clinical features and their association with all possible radiographic patterns of ILD. The first objective of this review is to describe the clinical, laboratory, and instrumental tests that can drive a diagnosis toward a possible rheumatic disease. The secondary objective is to propose a set of first-line tests to perform in all patients in order to recognize any possible rheumatic conditions underlying ILD.

Background: In previous studies, we demonstrated that the NEMO score, i.e. the cumulative number of microhaemorrhages (MHEs) and microthromboses (MTs), observed in nailfold videocapillaroscopy was a good indicator of the steady state level of disease activity (DA) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) when the European Scleroderma Study Group (EScSG) index was considered the gold standard., Aim of the Study: To verify whether the NEMO score could be (i) a valid tool to assess DA, even when the modified European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) index was considered to be the comparator, and (ii) a sensitive method to capture the DA overtime changes., Patients and Methods: The NEMO score and the EScSG and EUSTAR indices were contemporarily assessed at baseline (T0) and after a follow-up of 4-56 months (T1) in 98 patients with SSc. The differences (Δ) between the T1 and T0 values of the NEMO score and the EScSG and EUSTAR indices were calculated and compared to each other., Results: NEMO score values were very closely correlated with the corresponding values of the EScSG and EUSTAR indices both at T0 and T1 observations (p < 0.0001 in all cases with the exception of the correlation with EScSG values at T1 (p < 0.03)). The values of the two composite DA indices were also strictly related to each other in both T0 and T1 observations (p < 0.0001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed the NEMO score had a good sensitivity and specificity in classifying patients with a predefined level of DA (scores ≥ 3.0 and ≥ 2.5 for the EScSG and EUSTAR indices, respectively, p < 0.0001 in both cases). Δ values of the NEMO score were significantly correlated with the corresponding values of both the EScSG and EUSTAR indices. Weighted Cohen's k level of agreement between Δ values of the NEMO score and those of the EScSG and EUSTAR indices was moderate (0.55 and 0.59, respectively)., Conclusions: NEMO score proves to be a feasible, non-invasive, and valid tool to assess steady state levels and changes over time of DA in patients with SSc. Thus, it can represent an alternative or complementary method to measure this disease status entity in this disorder.

Objective: To investigate the gene expression profile in patients with Sjögren's syndrome that is characterized by different clinical phenotypes., Methods: RNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells was purified in 8 patients with glandular features (GFs) and widespread pain (WP) and 11 with extraglandular manifestations (EGMs) and then was analyzed by hybridization on a human gene chip exploring more than 40,000 human genes. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the two subgroups (ie, those with false discovery rate-corrected P values ≤ 0.01) with respect to 20 healthy controls have been submitted to functional classification using a Gene Ontology database and were mapped to define the networks of protein to protein interactions (PPIs)., Results: The enriched pathway analyses of DEGs and of the highly interconnected modules identified in the PPI networks showed that the pathological processes characterizing the two subgroups were substantially different. The predominant pathways in patients with EGMs are related to T- and B-cell activation, Toll-like receptor, interferon signaling, and apoptosis. Conversely, pathological processes related to pain transmission and modulation are preferentially operative in patients with GFs and WP. These data suggest that a neuroinflammatory pathway driven by cytokines and chemokines may play a central role in triggering WP features in this phenotype of patients., Conclusion: The present study supports the hypothesis that different biological pathways are operative in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome with different clinical phenotypes. A better knowledge of these specific processes might help in tailoring more effective target therapies., (© 2019 The Authors. ACR Open Rheumatology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American College of Rheumatology.)

Background: The term Interstitial Pneumonia with Autoimmune Features (IPAF) describes patients with Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILDs) and clinical or serological features of autoimmune diseases insufficient to reach a specific classification of a Connective Tissue Disease (CTD). Currently, retrospective studies on IPAF patients have proven to be heterogeneous in general characteristics, outcomes and High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) pattern. This study aims to describe for the first time the clinical, serological and radiological features of a prospective cohort of IPAF patients. This cohort is then compared to a group of patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)., Material and Methods: From 626 consecutive ILD patients evaluated, 45 IPAF and a comparison cohort of 143 IPF patients were enrolled. All patients underwent clinical assessment with rheumatologic and respiratory evaluation, HRCT, Pulmonary Function Tests and Nailfold Videocapillaroscopy., Results: The IPAF patients had a predominance of female gender (62.12%) with a median age of 66 years. The most common findings were: Nonspecific Interstitial Pneumonia (NSIP, 68.89%), Antinuclear Antibody positivity (17.77%) and Raynaud Phenomenon (31.11%). In comparison with IPF, IPAF patients showed younger age, better performances in Pulmonary Function Tests, less necessity of O 2 support and predominance of female sex and NSIP pattern., Discussion: This is the first report of a prospective cohort of IPAF patients. IPAF patients seem to have a less severe lung disease than IPF. IPAF criteria probably need to be revisited and validated, but their capacity to recruit patients with incomplete forms or early onset of CTD could be useful for further research., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed to confirm preliminary uncontrolled data indicating that regional adipose tissue (AT) grafting (G) is effective in inducing ischemic digital ulcer (IDU) healing in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)., Patients and Methods: SSc patients with IDUs were randomized to be blindly treated with AT-G or a sham procedure (SP). AT-G consisted of injection, at the base of the finger with the IDU, of 0.5-1 ml AT after centrifugation of fat aspirate. The SP consisted of false liposuction and local injection of saline solution. The primary endpoint was to compare the cumulative prevalence of healed IDUs in the two groups within the following 8 weeks., Results: AT-G and the SP were carried out in 25 and 13 patients, respectively. The two groups were comparable for age, gender, disease duration, and SSc subtypes. IDU healing was observed in 23/25 and 1/13 patients treated with AT-G and the SP, respectively (p < 0.0001). The 12 patients who received the unsuccessful SP underwent a rescue AT-G. In all of them, IDU healing was observed after 8 weeks of observation. It was noticeable that in the AT-G-treated patients a significant reduction of pain intensity (measured by visual analogue scale) was recorded after 4 and 8 weeks (p < 0.0001 in all cases). Similarly, a significant increase of capillary numbers in the affected finger was recorded by nailfold videocapillaroscopy after 4 and 8 weeks (p < 0.0001 in both cases)., Conclusion: This RCT strongly confirms that AT-G is effective in inducing IDU healing in SSc patients., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03406988 . Registered retrospectively on 25 January 2018.

Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease, characterized by high mortality and morbidity. The heterogeneity in terms of extent, severity, and rate of progression of skin and internal organ involvement gives rise to many difficulties in finding the optimal therapeutic interventions for SSc and, to date, no disease-modifying agents are available. In this scenario, it is not surprising that SSc was one of the first autoimmune diseases challenged with high-dose immunosuppressive treatment followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT). In the last decades, AHSCT has emerged as a treatment option for refractory SSc through a reduction of the aberrant immune cells, followed by re-constitution of a new, self-tolerant immune system. After several case series and pilot studies, more recently three randomized controlled trials have shown a benefit in skin involvement, organ functions and quality of life measures in AHSCT compared to monthly cyclophosphamide. In addition, although AHSCT presents a certain risk of mortality, it has been shown that the overall survival is better, compared to the cyclophosphamide group. Current evidence suggests that SSc patients who are most likely to benefit from AHSCT are early, active, with rapidly progressing diffuse skin disease, and mild involvement of internal organs. As the studies have progressed, it has become evident the need for a more rigorous patient selection, the optimization of transplant and post-transplant procedures, and the intervention of multidisciplinary teams of specialists to increase the safety and efficacy of AHSCT in SSc.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by a complex pathological process where the main scenario is represented by progressive loss of microvascular bed, with the consequent progressive fibrotic changes in involved organ and tissues. Although most aspects of vascular injury in scleroderma are poorly understood, recent data suggest that the scleroderma impairment of neovascularization could be related to both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis failure. Particularly, compensatory angiogenesis does not occur normally in spite of an important increase in many angiogenic factors either in SSc skin or serum. Besides insufficient angiogenesis, the contribution of defective vasculogenesis to SSc vasculopathy has been extensively studied. Over the last decades, our understanding of the processes responsible for the formation of new vessels after tissue ischemia has increased. In the past, adult neovascularization was thought to depend mainly on angiogenesis (a process by which new vessels are formed by the proliferation and migration of mature endothelial cells). More recently, increased evidence suggests that stem cells mobilize from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood (PB), differentiate in circulating endothelial progenitors (EPCs), and home to site of ischemia to contribute to de novo vessel formation. Significant advances have been made in understanding the biology of EPCs, and molecular mechanisms regulating EPC function. Autologous EPCs now are becoming a novel treatment option for therapeutic vascularization and vascular repair, mainly in ischemic diseases. However, different diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and peripheral artery ischemia are related to EPC dysfunction. Several studies have shown that EPCs can be detected in the PB of patients with SSc and are impaired in their function. Based on an online literature search (PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science, last updated December 2017) using keywords related to "endothelial progenitor cells" and "Systemic Sclerosis," "scleroderma vasculopathy," "angiogenesis," "vasculogenesis," this review gives an overview on the large body of data of current research in this issue, including controversies over the identity and functions of EPCs, their meaning as biomarker of SSc microangiopathy and their clinical potency.

The term interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) has been proposed to define patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with autoimmune signs not classifiable for connective tissue diseases (CTDs). This new definition overcomes previous nomenclatures and provides a uniform structure for prospective studies through specific classification criteria.This work evaluates the characteristics of IPAF patients reported in the literature, to highlight potential limits through a comparative analysis and to suggest better performing classification criteria.Four retrospective studies on the IPAF population have been considered. The study subjects differed in age, sex, smoking habit, ILD pattern and outcomes. Another important difference lies in the diverse items considered in the classification criteria. The retrospective design of the studies and the absence from some of them of a rheumatologist clearly involved in the diagnosis may have influenced the data, but current IPAF criteria seem to include a rather heterogeneous population. To overcome these discrepancies, this review suggests a limitation in the use of single items and the exclusion of extremely specific CTD criteria. This should avoid the definition of IPAF for those diseases at different stages or at early onset. The investigation of a functional or morphological cut-off of pulmonary involvement would be useful., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: C. Vancheri reports grants and personal fees from Roche and Boehringer Ingelheim, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: A. Fischer reports personal fees (consultancy and steering committee) from Boehringer Ingelheim and F Hoffman La Roche, during the conduct of the study., (Copyright ©ERS 2018.)

Background: Some abnormalities in nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), such as the presence of micro-haemorrhages (MHEs), micro-thromboses (MTs), giant capillaries (GCs) and reduction in the number of capillaries (nCs), suggest a disease activity (DA) phase in systemic sclerosis (SSc). In a previous paper, we showed that the number of micro-haemorrhages and micro-thromboses (the so-called NEMO score) was the NVC feature more closely associated with DA. The present study was aimed at validating the NEMO score as a measure of DA in patients with SSc., Methods: Two cohorts of 122 and 97 patients with SSc who were referred to two different rheumatology units, one in Milan and one in Naples, respectively, constituted the validation cohorts. The NEMO score, the total number of GCs and the mean nCs per digit were the parameters defined in each patient by eight-finger NVC. An expert operator analysed the NVCs in each of the participating units. The European Scleroderma Study Group (ESSG) index was used to define the DA level in each patient at the time of NVC examination., Results: The NEMO score was the NVC parameter more strictly correlated with the ESSG score in both the Milan and Naples cohorts (p < 0.0001), and it was the only one among the NVC variables that gave a significant contribution in a logistic model where the ESSG score represented the dependent variable. ROC curve analysis confirmed that the NEMO score had the best performance in measuring DA. The AUC of the NEMO score was significantly greater than the AUCs obtained by plotting the sensitivity and specificity of the number of GCs and the mean nCs (p < 0.0001 in all cases). The NEMO score values that showed the best sensitivity-specificity balance in capturing patients with a relevant DA level were slightly higher in the Naples cohort than in the Milan cohort., Conclusions: This study confirms that the presence of a certain number of MHEs and MTs in NVC may be considered a strong warning signal of a current phase of DA in patients with SSc.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have received attention as an ideal source of regenerative cells because of their multipotent differentiation potential. Adipose tissue is an attractive source of MSCs. Recent studies have shown that autologous fat grafting may be effective in the treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc), but no specific study exists that aimed at investigating whether adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) from SSc patients maintain normal phenotypic and functional characteristics. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether ADSCs from patients with SSc (SSc-ADSCs) are phenotypically and functionally identical to those from healthy controls (HC-ADSCs). Adipose tissue samples were obtained from 10 patients with SSc and from 8 HCs. Both MSC populations were evaluated for their capacity to (a) express specific MSC surface antigens by flow cytometry analysis, (b) proliferate, (c) differentiate along the adipogenic and osteogenic lineages, (d) suppress in vitro lymphocyte proliferation induced by a mitogenic stimulus, and (e) support endothelial cell (EC) tube formation. ADSCs from SSc patients and HCs showed similar surface phenotype and multilineage differentiation capabilities. In PBMC proliferation inhibition assays, no significant differences were observed between SSc- and HC-ADSCs. Using ADSC/EC cocultures, both SSc- and HC-ADSCs improved tube formation by both HC- and SSc-ECs. This effect was enhanced under hypoxic conditions in all of the cocultures. SSc-ADSCs exhibited the same phenotypic pattern, proliferation and differentiation potentials, and immunosuppressive properties as those from HCs. The proangiogenic activity shown by SSc-ADSCs, namely, under hypoxic conditions, suggests that autologous ADSC grafting may represent a possible therapeutic option for SSc.