BMP2 and systemic sclerosis: The addition of BMP2 to control-MVECs led to a 2.42 ± 0.16-fold increased expression of Bcl-xL, whereas in SSc-MVECs, the expression level of Bcl-xL was reduced significantly at baseline (mean ± SD, 0.47 ± 0.08, P < 0.01, compared with the normal control, and failed to increase after the addition of BMP2 at 200 ng/ml (Fig. 4), 300 or even 400 ng/ml (data not shown).