Abstract

Polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) offers a novel, non-invasive method of assessing skin fibrosis in the multisystem disease systemic sclerosis (SSc) by measuring collagen retardance. This study aimed to assess retardance as a biomarker in SSc. Thirty-one patients with SSc and 27 healthy controls (HC) underwent PS-OCT imaging. ‘Skin score’ was assessed by clinical palpation (0–3 scale). A subset of ten patients and ten age/sex-matched HC had a biopsy and longitudinal imaging. Histological assessment included quantification of epidermal thickness, collagen content (to assess fibrosis) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity (in situ zymography). PS-OCT images were assessed for epidermal thickness (structure) and fibrosis (retardance). Positive correlation was observed between epidermal thickness as measured by histology and structural PS-OCT (r = 0.79; p < 0.001). Retardance was: HC mean 0.21 (SD 0.21) radian/pixel; SSc skin score 0, 0.30 (0.19); skin score 1, 0.11 (0.16); skin score 2, 0.06 (0.12); skin score 3, 0.36 (0.35). Longitudinal retardance decreased at one-week across groups, increasing at one-month for HC/skin score 0–1; HC biopsy site retardance suggests scarring is akin to fibrosis. Relationships identified between retardance with both biopsy and skin score data indicate that retardance warrants further investigation as a suitable biomarker for SSc-related fibrosis.

Details

Title
Polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography measurement of retardance in fibrosis, a non-invasive biomarker in patients with systemic sclerosis
Author
Marjanovic, E J 1 ; Sharma, V 2 ; Smith, L 3 ; Pinder, C 4 ; Moore, T L 1 ; Manning, J B 1 ; Dinsdale, G 1 ; Berks, M 5 ; Newton, V L 6 ; Wilkinson, S 1 ; Dickinson, M R 7 ; Herrick, A L 8 ; Watson R E B 9 ; Murray, A K 10 

 Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.451052.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0581 2008); Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074) 
 Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074); University of Manchester, Centre for Dermatology Research, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407); Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Lansing, USA (GRID:grid.5379.8) 
 University of Manchester, Photon Science Institute, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 University of Manchester, School of Physics and Astronomy, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 University of Manchester, Centre for Imaging Sciences, Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074); University of Manchester, Centre for Dermatology Research, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 University of Manchester, School of Physics and Astronomy, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407); University of Manchester, Photon Science Institute, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.451052.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0581 2008); Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074); University of Manchester, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
 Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074); University of Manchester, Centre for Dermatology Research, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407); University of Manchester, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
10  Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.451052.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0581 2008); Salford Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Salford, UK (GRID:grid.462482.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0417 0074); University of Manchester, Photon Science Institute, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407); University of Manchester, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester, UK (GRID:grid.5379.8) (ISNI:0000000121662407) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2630746668
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.