Successful Treatment of Scleredema Diabeticorum With Tranilast: Three Case Reports

Scleredema is a rare disease that is characterized by symmetrical and nonpitting induration of the skin due to thickened dermis with abundant mucin deposition among large collagen bundles (1). Although many methods have been tried, there is currently no standard treatment. We report three cases of scleredema diabeticorum treated with tranilast. It is well established that histopathology of pathogenic skin in patients with scleredema diabeticorum shows collagen fiber thickening and type I collagen metabolism abnormalities. In our inspection, a higher level of TGF-β can be seen by immunohistochemistry in patients with scleredema diabeticorum compared with healthy patients. It has been reported that tranilast was able to suppress the TGF-β–induced upregulation of type I collagen mRNA expression and the basal level of type I collagen mRNA in human …