Figures 2a, 3a and 4a, which show western blotting of cell lysates with anti-plexin B1, anti-pent(r)axin 3 and anti-DSG2 antibodies, respectively, indicate down-regulation of plexin B1 and DSG2, and up-regulation of pentraxin 3 in SSc-MVECs, thereby confirming the microarray and RT-PCR data at the protein level. Here, DSG2 is linked to systemic sclerosis.