@article {YOSHIZAKI1825, author = {AYUMI YOSHIZAKI and YOHEI IWATA and KAZUHIRO KOMURA and TOSHIHIDE HARA and FUMIHIDE OGAWA and EIJI MUROI and MOTOI TAKENAKA and KAZUHIRO SHIMIZU and MINORU HASEGAWA and MANABU FUJIMOTO and SHINICHI SATO}, title = {Clinical Significance of Serum Hyaluronan Levels in Systemic Sclerosis: Association with Disease Severity}, volume = {35}, number = {9}, pages = {1825--1829}, year = {2008}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {Objective To determine any clinical association of serum levels of hyaluronan in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods Hyaluronan levels in serum samples from patients with SSc (n = 66) and hyaluronan expression in skin were assessed. Results Serum hyaluronan levels in SSc patients were higher than those in healthy controls. SSc patients with elevated hyaluronan levels had more frequent involvement of several clinical manifestations and immunological abnormalities compared to those with normal levels. Thus, hyaluronan levels correlated with disease severity. Hyaluronan expression in the sclerotic skin from SSc patients was more intense, relative to expression in normal skin. Conclusion These results suggest that elevated serum hyaluronan levels are associated with disease severity and immunological abnormalities in patients with SSc.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/35/9/1825}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/35/9/1825.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }