Rheumatology Medical News about Cell-free DNA, SSc, Biomarker

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Cell-free DNA in the plasma of patients with systemic sclerosis
Clinical Rheumatology, 08/20/09

Mosca M et al. – Data suggest that cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) levels could serve as a biomarker for the assessment of the severity, extension, degree of activity, and the prognosis of different pathological conditions in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods

Main objectives of this study were to:
- Evaluate the concn of cf-DNA in the plasma of pts with SSc, and
- Examine the correlation of cf-DNA with clinical variables of the disease
122 SSc pts and 16 healthy controls
Epidemiological and clinical data were collected by direct assessment
The β-globin gene was used to determine the total amount of DNA in the plasma by RT-PCR

Results

cf-DNA was found in all pts (mean concn 1,420.7 copies/ml) and controls (mean concn 1,462.5), with no significant difference
In SSc pts, no correlation was found between cf-DNA and the type of organ involvement
However, pts with active disease presented significantly higher cf-DNA concns than those with inactive disease
Thus cf-DNA could provide a useful biomarker for the assessment of disease activity in SSc pts

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