Background:Dysfunction of blood vessels and endothelial cells is regarded as a primary triggering factor of the development of autoimmunological processes in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, SSc). Literature data suggest that the duration of Raynaud’s phenomenon may correlate with disease severity.Material/Methods: The study comprised 34 patients with SSc, 19 with limited SSc (lSSc) and 15 with diffuse SSc (dSSc). The duration of Raynaud’s phenomenon (before skin fibrosis development) was correlated with the serum levels of selected markers, measured by ELISA, reflecting disturbances in autoimmunological processes, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and fibrosis.Results: A shorter duration of Raynaud’s phenomenon was shown to correlate with higher serum levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the whole SSc group and of aminoterminal propeptide of collagen III (PIIINP) in the lSSc subgroup (p<0.05). It also correlated with higher serum levels of soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL2R) and the soluble protein sFas in the whole SSc group and the lSSc subgroup (p<0.05).
Conclusions: The results obtained confirm the importance of vasomotor disturbance duration in triggering fibrosis in the course of systemic sclerosis.

Keywords: Antigens, CD95 - blood, Cell Division, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Fibrosis, Interleukin-10 - blood, Interleukin-10 - metabolism, Interleukin-2 - metabolism, Raynaud Disease - pathology, Receptors, Interleukin-2 - blood, Scleroderma, Systemic - blood, Time Factors, Antigens, CD95 - blood, Cell Division, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Fibrosis, Interleukin-10 - metabolism, Interleukin-2 - metabolism, Raynaud Disease - pathology, Receptors, Interleukin-2 - blood, Scleroderma, Systemic - blood, Time Factors