ADIPOQ and systemic sclerosis: Immunoblotting analyses confirmed either significantly lower protein levels of perilipin and adiponectin or significantly higher protein levels of α-SMA, type I collagen and S100A4 in both ADSC challenged with SSc sera and those treated with recombinant human TGFβ1 compared with basal ADSC and ADSC treated with healthy sera (p < 0.001 for all markers) (Figure 3B).