Clodoveo Ferri (born 22 March 1947) is an Italian researcher in the field of clinical

rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

and

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

. A native of Cropani, a small town in

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, Italy, Clodoveo Ferri graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

and later specialized in internal medicine and rheumatology. From January 2003 to November 2017, Clodoveo Ferri was Professor of Rheumatology, Chief of the Chair of Rheumatology and director of the Postgraduate School of Rheumatology at the

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1175, with a population of 20,000 students. The medieval university disappeared by ...

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, Italy. Following his retirement, he continued his activity as a research collaborator at the same Universi

Since 1972, the majority of Ferri's work is mainly devoted tof

systemic sclerosis Systemic scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, is an autoimmune rheumatic disease characterised by excessive production and accumulation of collagen, called fibrosis, in the skin and internal organs and by injuries to small arteries. There are tw ...

, cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (mixed cryoglobulinemia) and other

autoimmune In immunology, autoimmunity is the system of immune responses of an organism against its own healthy cells, tissues and other normal body constituents. Any disease resulting from this type of immune response is termed an " autoimmune disease" ...

systemic disorders. * For in-depth overview of studies on 'systemic sclerosis' go to '' Systemic Sclerosis Studies on Etiopathogenesis Clinical Manifestations Prognosis Survival.'' His most notable discovery regard the causative role of the

hepatitis C virus The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small (55–65 nm in size), enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family ''Flaviviridae''. The hepatitis C virus is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer ( hepatoc ...

(HCV) in the majority of patients with mixed

cryoglobulinemia Cryoglobulinemia is a rare medical condition characterized by the presence of cryoglobulins in the blood. Cryoglobulins are abnormal proteins composed of immunoglobulins and sometimes complement components. Cryoglobulins specifically form g ...

(cryoglobulinemic vasculitis) and in a significant percentage of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. * For in-depth overview of studies on “HCV, cryoglobulinemia, and lymphoma” go to '' Overview of the Research Line: from Mixed Cryoglobulinemia (Cryoglobulinemic Vasculitis) to HCV infection, Autoimmunity, and Oncogenesis.'' Ferri is a member of the SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and GISC (Italian Group for the Study of Cryoglobulinemias), ALCRI (Italian Association for the Fight against Cryoglobulinemias) and an international fellow of the American College of Rheumatology.

Scientific activity

Ferri's work includes clinical and laboratory investigations of different

and neoplastic diseases; in particular, he investigated the pathogenetic role of some viruses in mixed cryoglobulinemia (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis) and systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). In 1991, soon after the discovery of the

(HCV), he demonstrated the presence of serum viral genome (HCV-RNA) in a large series of mixed cryoglobulinemia patients. This finding suggested a causative role of HCV in other virus-related extrahepatic manifestations, including autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disorders. The association of HCV with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was first demonstrated in 1994. On the basis of these studies, confirmed and expanded by other authors worldwide, Clodoveo Ferri suggested the term "HCV syndrome", which refers to particular autoimmune-neoplastic disease complex triggered by HCV infections in predisposed individuals. The association of HCV with different diseases represents a good model of study of other virus-driven autoimmune, lymphoproliferative, and neoplastic disorders. The history of this multistep research may be useful for many aspects: a. it may have a stimulating and educational value, especially for student, young researchers, and clinicians, and b. it underlines the relevance to deal with the complexity frequently present in the clinical practice, which requires a multidisciplinary approach. Moreover, Ferri investigated the pathogenetic role of

parvovirus B19 Parvovirus B19, also called B19 virus (B19V), Human parvovirus B19, or sometimes erythrovirus B19, is a human virus in the family ''Parvoviridae'', genus ''Erythroparvovirus''. It measures only 23–26 nm in diameter. The virus is assigned ...

and

cytomegalovirus ''Cytomegalovirus'' (CMV) (from ''cyto-'' 'cell' via Greek - 'container' + 'big, megalo-' + -''virus'' via Latin 'poison') is a genus of viruses in the order '' Herpesvirales'', in the family '' Herpesviridae'', in the subfamily '' Betaherp ...

(CMV) in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Ferri has published over 450 scientific papers in international journals, see

PubMed PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institute ...

on the following topics: 1. Etiopathogenetic role of different viruses in autoimmune and neoplastic diseases: * 1990-91: identification of HCV as main triggering factor of mixed cryoglobulinemia (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis). * 1994: identification of HCV as triggering factor in a significant percentage of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. * 1993: possible role of HCV in patients with

porphyria cutanea tarda Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is a type of longterm porphyria characterised by fragile skin and sore blisters in areas of skin that receive higher levels of exposure to sunlight, such as the face and backs of the hands. These blisters burst easily ...

, autoimmune

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

, autoimmune

thyroiditis Thyroiditis is the inflammation of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is located on the front of the neck below the laryngeal prominence, and makes hormones that control metabolism. Thyroiditis is a group of disorders that all cause thyroi ...

, and type 2

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. * 1999: possible role of HCV in

papillary thyroid cancer Papillary thyroid cancer (papillary thyroid carcinoma, PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer, representing 75 percent to 85 percent of all thyroid cancer cases.Chapter 20 in: 8th edition. It occurs more frequently in women and presents ...

.Antonelli A, Ferri C, Fallahi
Thyroid cancer in patients with hepatitis C infection. JAMA 1999; 281(17):1588
* 1999: possible role of

and CMV in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). In this respect, significantly higher prevalence of parvovirus B19 infection was originally demonstrated in both bone marrow and skin of scleroderma patients compared to controls. 2. Serological studies and therapeutic trials on different rheumatic disorders (

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...

, SLE, systemic sclerosis, mixed cryoglobulinemia). 3. Etiopathogenesis, clinical features, survival, and treatment of mixed

syndrome (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis). 4. Etiopathogenesis and clinical follow-up of

Raynaud's phenomenon Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries causes episodes of reduced blood flow to end arterioles. Typically the fingers, and, less commonly, the toes, are involved. Rare ...

and systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) including classification, visceral involvement (heart, lung), survival, and treatment. Since 2015 Ferri is the coordinator of the Italian Systemic Sclerosis Registry
SIR-SPRING
. 5. Role of plasmapheretic and dietetic treatments in some rheumatic disorders (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, SLE, scleroderma,

IgA nephropathy IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger's disease () (and variations), or synpharyngitic glomerulonephritis, is a kidney disease, disease of the kidney (or nephropathy) and the immune system; specifically it is a form of glomerulonephritis o ...

). 6. Impact of COVID19 on autoimmune systemic diseases. Since 2020 Ferri is the coordinator of the COVID-19 & ASD Italian Study Group. Ferri's scientific production and related

Hirsch index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning the ...

(H-index) can be found on

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

Scopus Scopus is a scientific abstract and citation database, launched by the academic publisher Elsevier as a competitor to older Web of Science in 2004. The ensuing competition between the two databases has been characterized as "intense" and is c ...

an
ScholarGPS

Personal life

Son of Paolo and Marianna (née Paoletti), Ferri is married to Daniela Onofrio and the couple have two children, Paolo and Marianna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferri, Clodoveo 1947 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Italian rheumatologists University of Pisa alumni University of Modena and Reggio Emilia