On the other hand, the cultured SSc fibroblasts treated for 48 h with CTLA4-Ig (10, 50, 100, and 500 μg/ml) did not show any significant modulation in the gene expression levels of CD86, FN, αSMA, TGFβ, and S100A4 compared with CNT, whereas the gene expression of COL I was significantly downregulated by the highest dose of CTLA4-Ig (p < 0.05) (Fig. 3b). This evidence concerns the gene CTLA4 and systemic sclerosis.