PTGES and systemic sclerosis: To begin to assess whether mPGES-1 plays a role in fibrogenesis in SSc, we first examined whether mPGES-1 protein showed an altered expression pattern in dermal fibroblasts isolated from fibrotic lesions of early-onset diffuse SSc patients compared with those isolated from identical areas of healthy skin (termed normal fibroblast, or NF) (Figure 1a).