Scleroderma Association of B.C. research

May 2019 Update

SABC funds and co-leads a research study that began recruiting scleroderma patients with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD) in July 2017.  Blood samples have also been taken from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) only and both blood and skin samples have been taken from control participants. This research program is creating a firm foundation for intensive research to control lung and skin damage in patients with scleroderma and lung damage in patients with IPF, with the expectation of receiving future support from donations and, hopefully, research funding agencies. 

Research Study Progress

Nov 2017 Collection of blood and skin tissue samples completed and stored in The Scleroderma Biobank at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver

Dec 2017  Skin tissue growth completed

Apr 2018  Extraction of micro-RNA (miRNA) from tissue types

May 2018  Frozen tissue samples from three tissue types transferred to the BC Genome Sciences Centre for sequencing

Jul 2018   miRNA sequence data downloaded for one-third of the samples and quality control (QC) checks started by the scientific team members

Nov 2018  Completion of QC assessment for first two-thirds of the samples

Feb 2019  Completion of QC assessment for last third of the samples and QC examination for pilot study of fourth tissue

May 2019  Completion of differential expression analysis of known miRNA sequences in blood and skin

This proof-of-concept study is to discover miRNA sequences and their differential expression amongst six different types of cells.  This study is important for the approximately 15,604 Canadians with scleroderma and the approximately 7,045 Canadians with IPF (as confirmed by CT, biopsy, or bronchoscopy). Discovering which miRNA sequences are too low or too high and correcting these imbalances could lead to effective treatment of skin damage in patients with scleroderma and treatment of lung damage in patients with IPF only and in patients with both scleroderma and ILD.

SABC has been behind this project for the last five years. Over $240,000 in donations, including those from the SABC, have been contributed to date.  Your donations do make a difference in contributing to research that otherwise would not even be considered for funding for these two orphan diseases.

The research team brings together experts in respirology, rheumatology, bioinformatics, and genetical statistics to uniquely tackle this challenge.  The team is led by SABC President Rosanne Queen, SABC past President Bob Buzza, Drs. James Dunne and Kevin Keen.  Drs. Raewyn Broady, Robert Holt, Chris Ryerson and Pearce Wilcox round out the scientific research team.  Both Rosanne and Bob participate on the leadership team to keep us informed on the progress of this SABC-funded research program and to ensure the interests of patients and their families are at the forefront.