ACTA1 and systemic sclerosis: At the basal condition, SSc-MSCs showed a significant increase in mRNA levels of α-SMA, Col1A1 and Col1A2 when compared with HC-MSCs (α-SMA transcript levels: SSc-MSCs 2.12 (1.92 to 2.40) versus HC-MSCs 1.09 (0.97 to 1.40), P = 0.0002; Co1A1 transcript levels: SSc-MSCs 2.40 (1.80 to 3.20) versus HC-MSCs 1.15 (0.97 to 1.40), P = 0.0002; Col1A2 transcript levels: SSc-MSCs 2.55 (2.00 to 2.90) versus HC-MSCs 0.80 (0.60 to 1.20), P = 0.0002).