ITGB8 and systemic sclerosis: In addition to DSG2, also MACF1, DIAPH1, DIAPH2, ARPC3, RAC2, CDH5, and ITGB8 genes showed a reduced expression in SSc-MVECs, suggesting that the very poor expression of DSG2 previously observed in our study of the differential gene expression profiling of N-MVECs and SSc-MVECs [3] may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of Systemic sclerosis angiogenesis impairment.