TGFB1 and systemic sclerosis: Cipriani et al. [18] have demonstrated that endothelial cells in SSc, under the synergistic effect of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and ET-1, may transdifferentiate toward myofibroblasts in a process called endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT) by which endothelial cells change their morphological features and assume myofibroblast-like features.