Publications

2025

Assassi S, Denton CP, Zwick M, Schmid R, Ittrich C, Litzenburger T, Visvanathan S. Peripheral blood gene expression profiling shows prognostic significance for the course of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 May 26. doi: 10.1002/art.43262. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40420438.

Maher TM, Assassi S, Azuma A, Cottin V, Hoffmann-Vold AM, Kreuter M, Oldham JM, Richeldi L, Valenzuela C, Wijsenbeek MS, Clerisme-Beaty E, Coeck C, Gu H, Ritter I, Schlosser A, Stowasser S, Voss F, Weimann G, Zoz DF, Martinez FJ; FIBRONEER-ILD Trial Investigators. Nerandomilast in Patients with Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis. N Engl J Med. 2025 May 19. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2503643. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40388329.

Hanif I, Assassi S, Mayes MD, McMahan ZH, Zhang M, Charles J, VanBuren JM, Alvey JS, Ghaffari K, Bernstein EJ, Castelino FV, Chung L, Evnin L, Frech TM, Gordon JK, Hant FN, Hummers LK, Khanna D, Lakin KS, Lebiedz-Odrobina D, Luo Y, Makol A, Molitor JA, Moore DF, Richardson C, Sandorfi N, Shah AA, Shah A, Shanmugam VK, Steen VD, Volkmann ER, Zahn C, Skaug B. Hand swelling and other non-Raynaud’s symptoms as the initial presentation of systemic sclerosis: prevalence and clinical associations in two U.S. cohorts. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 May 19. doi: 10.1002/art.43237. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40386907.

Volkmann ER, Assassi S, Denton CP, Simonovska R, Sambevski S, Alves M, Bernstein EJ. Outcomes in Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease Based on Serological Profiles: Focus on Anti-Centromere and Anti-RNA Polymerase III Antibodies. J Rheumatol. 2025 Apr 15:jrheum.2024-1063. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.2024-1063. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40233987.

Hinchcliff M, Khanna D, De Lorenzis E, Di Donato S, Carriero A, Ross RL, Huang S, Aren KA, Bernstein EJ, Carns M, Castelino FV, Domsic RT, Frech TM, Gordon JK, Hant FN, Shah AA, Shanmugam VK, Steen VD, Assassi S, Del Galdo F. Serum type I interferon score as a disease activity biomarker in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Rheumatol. 2025 Mar 31:S2665-9913(24)00403-X. doi: 10.1016/S2665-9913(24)00403-X. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40179922.

Chawla HS, Chen Y, Wu M, Nikitin P, Gutierrez J, Mohan C, Singh M, Aglyamov SR, Assassi S, Larin KV. Assessment of skin fibrosis in a murine model of systemic sclerosis with multifunctional optical coherence tomography. J Biomed Opt. 2025 Mar;30(3):036007. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.30.3.036007. Epub 2025 Mar 27. PMID: 40151216; PMCID: PMC11949416.

Yuan X, Qin X, Takemoto K, Zhao J, Sanderson M, Xu X, Zhang Y, Helke KL, Jacobs Wolf B, Guthridge JM, James JA, Zhou X, Assassi S, Feghali-Bostwick C, Wang D, Sun L, Tsao BP. Human hypofunctional NCF1 variants promote pulmonary fibrosis in the bleomycin-induced mouse model and patients with systemic sclerosis via expansion of SPP1⁺ monocytes-derived macrophages. Ann Rheum Dis. 2025 Feb;84(2):294-306. doi: 10.1136/ard-2024-226034. Epub 2025 Jan 2. PMID: 39919902.

2024

Bernstein EJ, Boin F, Elicker B, Luo Y, Ren Y, Zhang M, Varga J, Assassi S. FAM13A polymorphism is associated with a usual interstitial pneumonia pattern in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 Oct 17:keae573. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae573. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39418199.

Mills TW, Wu M, Alonso J, Puente H, Charles J, Chen Z, Yoo SH, Mayes MD, Assassi S. Unraveling the role of MiR-181 in skin fibrosis pathogenesis by targeting NUDT21. FASEB J. 2024 Sep;38(17):e70022. doi: 10.1096/fj.202400829R. PMID: 39250282; PMCID: PMC11512580.

Johnson SR, Bernstein EJ, Bolster MB, Chung JH, Danoff SK, George MD, Khanna D, Guyatt G, Mirza RD, Aggarwal R, Allen A Jr, Assassi S, Buckley L, Chami HA, Corwin DS, Dellaripa PF, Domsic RT, Doyle TJ, Falardeau CM, Frech TM, Gibbons FK, Hinchcliff M, Johnson C, Kanne JP, Kim JS, Lim SY, Matson S, McMahan ZH, Merck SJ, Nesbitt K, Scholand MB, Shapiro L, Sharkey CD, Summer R, Varga J, Warrier A, Agarwal SK, Antin-Ozerkis D, Bemiss B, Chowdhary V, Dematte D’Amico JE, Hallowell R, Hinze AM, Injean PA, Jiwrajka N, Joerns EK, Lee JS, Makol A, McDermott GC, Natalini JG, Oldham JM, Saygin D, Lakin KS, Singh N, Solomon JJ, Sparks JA, Turgunbaev M, Vaseer S, Turner A, Uhl S, Ivlev I. 2023 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Guideline for the Treatment of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Aug;76(8):1182-1200. doi: 10.1002/art.42861. Epub 2024 Jul 8. PMID: 38978310.

Johnson SR, Bernstein EJ, Bolster MB, Chung JH, Danoff SK, George MD, Khanna D, Guyatt G, Mirza RD, Aggarwal R, Allen A Jr, Assassi S, Buckley L, Chami HA, Corwin DS, Dellaripa PF, Domsic RT, Doyle TJ, Falardeau CM, Frech TM, Gibbons FK, Hinchcliff M, Johnson C, Kanne JP, Kim JS, Lim SY, Matson S, McMahan ZH, Merck SJ, Nesbitt K, Scholand MB, Shapiro L, Sharkey CD, Summer R, Varga J, Warrier A, Agarwal SK, Antin-Ozerkis D, Bemiss B, Chowdhary V, Dematte D’Amico JE, Hallowell R, Hinze AM, Injean PA, Jiwrajka N, Joerns EK, Lee JS, Makol A, McDermott GC, Natalini JG, Oldham JM, Saygin D, Lakin KS, Singh N, Solomon JJ, Sparks JA, Turgunbaev M, Vaseer S, Turner A, Uhl S, Ivlev I. 2023 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Guideline for the Screening and Monitoring of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Aug;76(8):1201-1213. doi: 10.1002/art.42860. Epub 2024 Jul 8. PMID: 38973714.

Dai H, Ketkar S, Tan T, Atkinson EG, Burrage L, Worley KC, Christopher B, Lyons MA, Assassi S, Mayes MD, Lee B. Exploring the complexity of systemic sclerosis etiology by trio whole genome sequencing. Hum Mol Genet. 2024 Sep 19;33(19):1643-1647. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddae105. PMID: 38970828; PMCID: PMC11413644.

Huang M, Tabib T, Khanna D, Assassi S, Domsic R, Lafyatis R. Single-cell transcriptomes and chromatin accessibility of endothelial cells unravel transcription factors associated with dysregulated angiogenesis in systemic sclerosis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024 Sep 30;83(10):1335-1344. doi: 10.1136/ard-2023-225415. PMID: 38754983; PMCID: PMC11442142.

Wareing N, Wang X, Keyes-Elstein L, Goldmuntz EA, Lyons MA, McSweeney P, Furst DE, Nash RA, Crofford LJ, Welch B, Pinckney A, Mayes MD, Sullivan KM, Assassi S. Myeloablation Followed by Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Long-Term Normalization of Systemic Sclerosis Molecular Signatures. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Aug;76(8):1288-1293. doi: 10.1002/art.42847. Epub 2024 Apr 29. PMID: 38497141; PMCID: PMC11288782.

Jandali B, Lyons M, Charles J, Zhang M, Theodore S, Pedroza C, Mayes MD, Assassi S. A Prospective Observational Study of Disease Severity and Mortality in Hispanic American Patients With Systemic Sclerosis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2024 Jun;76(6):768-776. doi: 10.1002/acr.25300. Epub 2024 Mar 25. PMID: 38221717; PMCID: PMC11132947.

Zhu H, Luo H, Skaug B, Tabib T, Li YN, Tao Y, Matei AE, Lyons MA, Schett G, Lafyatis R, Assassi S, Distler JHW. Fibroblast Subpopulations in Systemic Sclerosis: Functional Implications of Individual Subpopulations and Correlations with Clinical Features. J Invest Dermatol. 2024 Jun;144(6):1251-1261.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2023.09.288. Epub 2023 Dec 24. PMID: 38147960; PMCID: PMC11116078.

2023

Bellocchi C, Wang X, Lyons MA, Marchini M, Lorini M, Carbonelli V, Montano N, Assassi S, Beretta L. Reactome pathway analysis from whole-blood transcriptome reveals unique characteristics of systemic sclerosis patients at the preclinical stage. Front Immunol. 2023 Nov 3;14:1266391. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1266391. PMID: 38022564; PMCID: PMC10654742.

Volkmann ER, Tashkin DP, Silver R, Bostwick CF, Assassi S, Frost DB, Leng M, Wilhalme H, Kim GH, Goldin J, Roth MD. Sex differences in clinical outcomes and biological profiles in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease: a post-hoc analysis of two randomized controlled trials. Lancet Rheumatol. 2022 Oct;4(10):e668-e678. doi: 10.1016/s2665-9913(22)00193-x. Epub 2022 Sep 21. PMID: 37745675; PMCID: PMC10518185.

Desai R, Chawla H, Larin K, Assassi S. Methods for objective assessment of skin involvement in systemic sclerosis. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2023 Nov 1;35(6):301-308. doi: 10.1097/BOR.0000000000000968. Epub 2023 Aug 21. PMID: 37605869; PMCID: PMC11015902.

Luebker S, Frech TM, Assassi S, Gordon JK, Bernstein EJ, Steen VD, Shah AA, Hummers LK, Richardson C, Khanna D, Castelino FV, Chung L, Hant FN, Shanmugam VK, VanBuren JM, Alvey J, Harding M, Sandorfi N. The Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry for Scleroderma: association of medication use on gastrointestinal tract symptoms in early disease and the importance of tobacco cessation. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2023 Aug;41(8):1632-1638. doi: 10.55563/clinexprheumatol/04rauu. Epub 2023 Jul 25. PMID: 37497718.

Hwang M, Assassi S, Zheng J, Castillo J, Chavez R, Vanarsa K, Mohan C, Reveille J. Quantitative proteomic screening uncovers candidate diagnostic and monitoring serum biomarkers of ankylosing spondylitis. Arthritis Res Ther. 2023 Apr 11;25(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s13075-023-03044-4. PMID: 37041650; PMCID: PMC10088143.

Khanna D, Maher TM, Volkmann ER, Allanore Y, Smith V, Assassi S, Kreuter M, Hoffmann-Vold AM, Kuwana M, Stock C, Alves M, Sambevski S, Denton CP. Effect of nintedanib in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease and risk factors for rapid progression. RMD Open. 2023 Feb;9(1):e002859. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002859. PMID: 36796874; PMCID: PMC9936273.

Skaug B, Guo X, Li YJ, Charles J, Pham KT, Couturier J, Lewis DE, Bracaglia C, Caiello I, Mayes MD, Assassi S. Reduced digestion of circulating genomic DNA in systemic sclerosis patients with the DNASE1L3 R206C variant. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 Sep 1;62(9):3197-3204. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kead050. PMID: 36708011; PMCID: PMC10473277.

Bellocchi C, Assassi S, Lyons M, Marchini M, Mohan C, Santaniello A, Beretta L. Proteomic aptamer analysis reveals serum markers that characterize preclinical systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients at risk for progression toward definite SSc. Arthritis Res Ther. 2023 Jan 27;25(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s13075-023-02989-w. PMID: 36707842; PMCID: PMC9881382.

Sapao P, Roberson EDO, Shi B, Assassi S, Skaug B, Lee F, Naba A, Perez White BE, Córdova-Fletes C, Tsou PS, Sawalha AH, Gudjonsson JE, Ma F, Verma P, Bhattacharyya D, Carns M, Strauss JF 3rd, Sicard D, Tschumperlin DJ, Champer MI, Campagnola PJ, Teves ME, Varga J. Reduced SPAG17 Expression in Systemic Sclerosis Triggers Myofibroblast Transition and Drives Fibrosis. J Invest Dermatol. 2023 Feb;143(2):284-293. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2022.08.052. Epub 2022 Sep 15. PMID: 36116512; PMCID: PMC10097410.

2022

Akay M, Du Y, Sershen CL, Wu M, Chen TY, Assassi S, Mohan C, Akay YM. Deep Learning Classification of Systemic Sclerosis Skin Using the MobileNetV2 Model. IEEE Open J Eng Med Biol. 2021 Mar 17;2:104-110. doi: 10.1109/OJEMB.2021.3066097. PMID: 35402975; PMCID: PMC8901014.

Herrick AL, Assassi S, Denton CP. Skin involvement in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: an unmet clinical need. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2022 May;18(5):276-285. doi: 10.1038/s41584-022-00765-9. Epub 2022 Mar 15. PMID: 35292731; PMCID: PMC8922394.

Wareing N, Mohan V, Taherian R, Volkmann ER, Lyons MA, Wilhalme H, Roth MD, Estrada-Y-Martin RM, Skaug B, Mayes MD, Tashkin DP, Assassi S. Blood Neutrophil Count and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio for Prediction of Disease Progression and Mortality in Two Independent Systemic Sclerosis Cohorts. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2023 Mar;75(3):648-656. doi: 10.1002/acr.24880. Epub 2022 Nov 17. PMID: 35287250; PMCID: PMC9470772.

Assassi S, Volkmann ER, Zheng WJ, Wang X, Wilhalme H, Lyons MA, Roth MD, Tashkin DP. Peripheral blood gene expression profiling shows predictive significance for response to mycophenolate in systemic sclerosis-related interstitial lung disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Jun;81(6):854-860. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221313. Epub 2022 Feb 21. PMID: 35190386; PMCID: PMC9117450.

Jandali B, Salazar GA, Hudson M, Fritzler MJ, Lyons MA, Estrada-Y-Martin RM, Charles J, Terracina KA, Mayes MD, Assassi S. The Effect of Anti-Scl-70 Antibody Determination Method on Its Predictive Significance for Interstitial Lung Disease Progression in Systemic Sclerosis. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2022 Apr;4(4):345-351. doi: 10.1002/acr2.11398. Epub 2022 Jan 20. PMID: 35048554; PMCID: PMC8992461.

Skaug B, Lyons MA, Swindell WR, Salazar GA, Wu M, Tran TM, Charles J, Vershel CP, Mayes MD, Assassi S. Large-scale analysis of longitudinal skin gene expression in systemic sclerosis reveals relationships of immune cell and fibroblast activity with skin thickness and a trend towards normalization over time. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Apr;81(4):516-523. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221352. Epub 2021 Dec 22. PMID: 34937693; PMCID: PMC8956967.

Chernis J, Buni M, Kazzaz S, Ying J, Lyons M, Assassi S, Mayes M. Predictors of Perceived Functional Status in Early Systemic Sclerosis: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of an Early Disease Cohort. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2023 May;75(5):1066-1070. doi: 10.1002/acr.24812. Epub 2022 Dec 9. PMID: 34738736; PMCID: PMC9068830.