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0:00
Hello everyone, and thank
you for joining me today.
My name is Dr.
Zsuzsanna McMahan,
and I'm an Associate
Professor of Medicine
and Co-Director of the
Scleroderma Center
at UTHealth Houston.
Today, we are going
to talk about a topic
that I'm frequently asked
about in the clinic,
the relationship between the
environment and scleroderma.
We'll explore how the
world around us interacts
with our biology to
influence this disease.
0:27
Before we begin, I wanted to
share my disclosures,
which are listed here.
0:34
Here is a brief roadmap of
what we will cover today.
First, we will look
at the big picture.
What exactly is the
relationship between
the environment and systemic
sclerosis or scleroderma?
Second, we'll break down
the core mechanisms.
Meaning, how exactly do
outside factors cause
changes inside the body?
Finally, we will
discuss how genetics,
the environment, and
something called epigenetics
all integrate and work together
to trigger or
worsen the disease.
1:03
To start, let's ground ourselves
in what systemic sclerosis is.
Systemic sclerosis, also
known as scleroderma,
is a rare autoimmune
disease affecting
roughly 250 out of every
one million people.
As many of you know firsthand,
it is characterized
by the hardening and
tightening of the skin
and connective tissues,
but it can also affect
internal organs.
Because it is so
rare and complex,
understanding exactly
why it happens
is one of our
biggest challenges,
and that is where the
environment comes into play.
1:37
This graphic gives
us an overview of
how scleroderma develops,
or its pathogenesis.
It essentially involves
three main events.
First, there's an injury
to the blood vessels.
Second, the immune system
becomes overactive
and starts attacking
the body's own tissues.
Third, this leads to fibrosis,
which is an overproduction
of collagen that causes
the tissue hardening that
we see in scleroderma.
The key question
for researchers is
what pulls the trigger to
start this three-step process?
