Cytokine profile of bronchoalveolar lavage in systemic sclerosis with interstitial lung disease: comparison with usual interstitial pneumonia

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Abstract
We studied the cytokine profile of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 28 patients with SSc-ILD (6 men, 22 women; mean (SD) age 50.3 (8.9) years). All patients with SSc satisfied the preliminary American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for classification of the disease,4 and respiratory disease was defined on the basis of functional tests and high resolution computed tomography findings as at least grade 1 severity, according to the disease severity scale for SSc.5 Seven (25%) patients with SSc had limited and 21 (75%) diffuse disease. All were positive for antinuclear antibodies; 18 for anti-topoisomerase I, and one for anti-RNA polymerase I and III. Results were compared with those obtained in 13 patients with UIP (10 men, three women; mean (SD) age 56 (16.8) years; all newly diagnosed, previously untreated patients); and nine normal controls (seven men, two women, mean (SD) age 42.7 (12.1) years).

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