{
  "abstract": "Introduction Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune rheumatic disease which is characterised by vasculopathy, inflammation, and fibrosis. The aetiopathogenesis of the disease is currently unclear; thus, diagnosis, disease prognosis and treatment are challenging. There is an urgent need for reliable SSc biomarkers to improve patient care. Several candidate biomarkers have been proposed in the literature, and this study aimed to validate some of them in an easily accessible tissue.Material and Methods Blood samples were collected from healthy controls (HC), patients with SSc, as well as patients with other rheumatic diseases, and RNA extraction was performed. Fifteen candidate biomarkers of SSc reported in previous proteomic studies were selected for further validation at the RNA level in the blood. RNA expression of the assessed molecules was determined using a real-time PCR (q-PCR) approach. Univariate analysis was performed with non-parametric Wilcoxon tests to detect significant differences in the expression of candidate biomarkers between SSc, other rheumatic diseases and HC samples. The Enrichr Web server was used for pathways analysis of the validated targets.Results This approach confirmed overexpression of two out of the fifteen selected molecules in patients with SSc compared to HC or patients with other rheumatic diseases. Pathway analysis revealed that the validated molecules are implicated in pathways that might be involved in disease pathogenesis and clinical manifestations (e.g., cardiac muscle contraction).Conclusions We conclude that the RNA levels of two molecules are reliable and specific biomarkers for SSc, when measured in the blood, conferring minimal risk to patients, thereby facilitating a cost-effective and timely diagnosis.*This study presents unpublished data.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurogenetics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Paraskevi P Chairta"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rheumatology Department, Nicosia General Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Savvas Psarelis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rheumatology Department, Nicosia General Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Sofia Symeonidou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Bioinformatics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Marios Tomazou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Bioinformatics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Nestoras Karathanasis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Bioinformatics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Styliana Menelaou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Bioinformatics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "George M Spyrou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurogenetics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Paschalis Nicolaou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurogenetics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus"
      ],
      "name": "Kyproula Christodoulou"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P.244 Validation of strong candidate RNA biomarkers for systemic sclerosis",
  "uid": "364acb58-3f0b-596c-85ba-ce2a8135108c"
}