Scleroderma patients (SSc) with interstitial lung disease have normal telomere length in granulocytes, but not lymphocytes. This is in contrast with observations in idiopathic lung fibrosis (IPF), the disease that shows partial clinical overlap. While the reason for shortening in all cell types in IPF is congenital, we propose that in SSc this shows excessive proliferation of one cell type.
COBISS.SI-ID: 34205913