| Considering the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1)
in tissue remodeling and fibrosis during the development
of scleroderma as well as the effect of α-Klotho in pathogenesis
of calcinosis and/or endothelial cell injury and its
correlation with severity of disease, this study aimed to
evaluate serum ET-1, α-Klotho and 25(OH) vitamin D levels
in patients with limited and diffuse scleroderma compared
to healthy subjects. In this cross-sectional study, 60
scleroderma patients according to the ACR/EULAR 2013
criteria and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were
included. In patients, clinical examination was performed
and Medsger severity scale was assessed. Serum ET-1, soluble
α-Klotho and 25(OH)D3 levels were measured using
ELISA kits. The mean ± SD age of patients and controls
was 46.2 ± 9.6 and 47.2 ± 7.0 years, respectively. Compared
to healthy controls, serum ET-1 was significantly higher
in SSc patients (p = 0.001); whilst serum α-Klotho and
25(OH)D3 were significantly lower in patients (p = 0.001).
The most common organs involved in patients were skin,
lung, peripheral vascular and gastrointestinal system and the
severity of involvement was mainly mild and/or moderate.
There were no significant differences in serum ET-1 and
α-Klotho levels according to the severity of different organ
involvement (p > 0.05). There was no significant correlation
between presence or absence of calcinosis and negative
or positivity of auto-antibodies with ET-1, α-Klotho
and 25(OH)D3 levels. Although our study revealed higher
serum ET-1 and lower serum α-Klotho levels in SSc patients
compared to healthy controls, there were not any significant correlations between their serum levels with severity of
organ involvement. |