Quantitative PCR data confirmed the upregulation in SSc fibroblasts of several transcripts of genes known to be associated with fibrosis and myofibroblast biology and detected in our microarray analysis: ACTA2 (encoding for ASMA), extracellular matrix associated genes (COL11A1, LOXL2, CTGF), a known myofibroblast transcription factor (GLI2) and a known profibrotic secreted factor (IGFBP7) (Fig. 1D)30–32. This evidence concerns the gene ACTA2 and systemic sclerosis.