Valeria Riccieri

Associate Professor of Rheumatology (SSD MED16)(University of Rome Sapienza) Degree in Medicine and Surgery (University of Rome Sapienza) Specialist in Rheumatology (University of Rome Sapienza) PhD in Experimental Rheumatology (University of Padua) Specialist in Clinical Pathology (University of Rome Sapienza) In the field of the rheumatic diseases she examined humoral and cellular immunologic changes in the main autoimmune diseases, such as systemic sclerosis (SSc), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren’s syndrome (SjS), together with clinical-radiological and therapeutical studies on chronic polyarthritis, in particular rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). She also analyzed cell-mediated immunity on the peripheral blood and on tissue samples of different chronic inflammatory conditions, including autoimmune diseases. Among these studies immunohistochemical investigations on different tissues, such as synovial membrane of patients with chronic polyarthritis (RA and seronegative spondyloarthritides, mainly PsA), on minor salivary glands of patients with SjS, and on other rare autoimmune conditions have been performed. In addition she evaluated the role for cytotoxic cellular immunity, mainly of non-MHC-restricted type, on the peripheral blood of patients with different connective tissue diseases and on the peripheral blood and synovial fluid of chronic polyarthritis. In the last 15 years she mainly dedicated to the study of microvascular abnormalities, as detected by capillaroscopic technique, investigating for any serological and plasmatic changes in the connective tissue diseases, such as SSc, SLE, SjS, antiphospholipid syndrome, vasculitides and other chronic diseases. Actually the main field of interest concerns SSc and includes the early diagnosis, the clinical assessment of organ manifestations, the predictivity of damage, genetic studies and the role for different molecules, such as autoantibodies, cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, oxidative stress parameters in this autoimmune disease. A great part of her recent papers is the result of international partnerships with some of the most important authors involved in the field of SSc. She is also involved in different Italian and International projects concerning clinical, instrumental and laboratory findings in the rheumatic diseases.