Posted on Sunday, 5th December 2010 by Brooke Richmond
Scleroderma is an auto-immune disease that can hit any person, at any age and there is no cure.
At best, it attacks your skin. At worst, it attacks your heart, or your liver. But now researchers are just starting to understand who’s at greatest risk.
Shannon Abert was diagnosed seven years ago.
“What happened with me was my hands kept turning purple,” said Shannon.
Scleroderma attacks the body’s own organs. For Shannon, it is her skin; for others, it is the heart, lungs or kidneys, which can be fatal.
Excess collagen built up in her hands forced her to retire from teaching when her fingers became too rigid.
“Since the immune system is attacking the body’s own tissues – that tissue remains, the attack remains, and it becomes chronic,” said Maureen Mayes, MD of University of Texas Health Science Center.
Just 300,000 people are affected nationwide, but 85 percent of cases are women.
Mayes leads the only study to map the genes triggering Scleroderma and she has found 25 percent so far.
Medication helps, but it is not a cure.
Experts think Scleroderma may be caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors.
Researchers still need more DNA samples for their registry, both from patients and their family members.
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