Patent ID: 8425877

Claim:
A method of predicting the pressure of systemic sclerosis in a human patient by determining anti-AT 1 receptor antibody level in a biological sample from the human patient comprising: (i) obtaining a biological sample from a human patient suspected of having systemic sclerosis; (ii) measuring anti-AT 1 receptor antibody level in the biological sample from the patient suspected of having systemic sclerosis; and (iii)comparing the anti-AT 1 receptor antibody level in the biological sample from the human patient suspected of having systemic sclerosis with anti-AT 1 receptor antibody levels from a healthy control subject and from one or more control disease subjects having rheumatoid arthritis, morphea, and primary Raynaud's phenomenon, wherein if the anti-AT 1 receptor antibody level in the biological sample from the human patient suspected of having systemic sclerosis is greater than the median anti-AT 1 receptor antibody levels in the healthy control subject and the control disease subjects having rheumatoid arthritis, mophea, and primary Raynaud's phenomenon, it is predictive of the presence of systemic sclerosis in the human patient.