Emerging strategies for treatment of systemic sclerosis

are critical aspects of patient management because organ involvement is responsible for most of the complications and mortality in SSc. Clinical signs to aid early diagnosis or organ involvement have been identified (7-9), and comprehensive criteria for early diagnosis are being developed (9, 10). Furthermore, efforts to identify and validate circulating biomarkers to assess rate of progression and organ involvement are evolving rapidly (7, 11, 12). When SSc is diagnosed early, potential organ involvement is addressed, and appropriate treatment instituted, the outcomes for many patients can be improved. For example, better management of SSc-related renal crisis is largely responsible for improvements in 10-year survival in recent decades (4). The decline in death due to renal crisis has led to the emergence of lung manifestations as the leading causes of death among SSc patients, highlighting the need for better treatments for these manifestations, or for better treatments to alter the underlying causes of disease. This review will highlight ongoing research into new treatment strategies, especially those targeting the progression of fibrosis in SSc.