LeRoy's seminal work on the phenotypic features of scleroderma fibroblasts has been directing fibrosis research in the field of systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma) for the past 30 years. His principal experiment, to culture skin fibroblasts from patients with SSc and study their pro-fibrotic phenotype in comparison with skin fibroblasts from healthy individuals, has been used by most basic and translational fibrosis studies in SSc. LeRoy's findings have revolutionized our understanding of the disease pathogenesis and guided the development of novel antifibrotic therapies towards fibroblast-specific approaches.
Keywords: fibroblast; fibrosis; pathogenesis; systemic sclerosis; treatment.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.