CCN2 and pulmonary arterial hypertension: We have recently demonstrated that pioglitazone attenuates TGF-β1 induced pulmonary arterial hypertension and remodeling in the TGF-β1 overexpressing mouse, via decreasing TGF-β1, CTGF and α-smooth muscle actin (Acta2) expression in pulmonary arterial SMC [16].