Conditions: Scleroderma, Systemic
Keywords: Scleroderma, Systemic
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 7
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Researchers from the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are conducting a study to evaluate whether mycophenolate mofetil (an immunosuppressive medication, trade named CellCept) is safe and effective for preventing the lung damage from scleroderma from getting worse.

Detailed description:
The proposed study is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept) for the treatment of symptomatic pulmonary alveolitis due to systemic sclerosis (SSc). This study utilizes a prospective, open-label, experimental design.

Primary Hypothesis: The alveolitis in patients with SSc, as defined by decreased forced vital capacity (FVC), bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and High Resolution Chest Tomography (HRCT) is responsive to 1 year of daily mycophenolate mofetil therapy.

Secondary Hypothesis: Quality of life, six-minute walk and single-breath diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) improve in patients with SSc mediated alveolitis after therapy with mycophenolate mofetil. This response to therapy is associated with a change in the inflammatory cytokine profile present in BAL fluid.

Arms:
arm 1: Mycophenolate Mofetil

Interventions: intervention 1: Mycophenolate mofetil
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None

Protocol document: