On day 4, 7 and 14 the protein secretion of TGF-β1 from SSc monoculture was significantly higher than ADSC-SSc co-culture, HDF monoculture, ADSC monoculture and ADSC-HDF co-culture (p <0.001) with direct and indirect culture (Fig 4). Here, TGFB1 is linked to systemic sclerosis.