Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a progressive autoimmune disorder that mainly affects
the skin. There are other clinical manifestations as renal, pulmonary, cardiovascular,
and gastrointestinal tract involvements. Based on the skin involvement there are two
subtypes of SSc, as limited cutaneous SSc (lSSc) which involves the acral part of
the body and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dSSc) resulting in significant skin thickening
of the body. Despite of the extensive research the pathomechanism is not fully clarified,
how Ssc develops, moreover identifying biomarkers to predict the clinical outcome
and prognosis still remains challenging. Circulating biomarkers can be crucial to
define the diagnosis, to predict the prognosis and monitor the clinical course. However,
only some patients are responsive to the therapy in SSc, and there is a need to reach
the ideal therapy for any individual to prevent or slow down the progression in early
stages of the disease. In this narrative review, our purpose was to summarize the
potential biomarkers in Ssc, describe their role in the diagnosis, pathomechanism,
clinical course, organ manifestations, as well as the response to the therapy. Biomarkers
assessment aids in the evaluation of disease progression, and disease outcome.
