EDN1 and systemic sclerosis: Thus, a potential candidate gene found within this region is EDN1 (endothelin-1), a vasoconstrictor associated with several cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory and fibrotic processes (Matsushima et al., 2004), acting as fibroblast mitogen in systemic sclerosis (Vancheeswaran et al., 1994), pulmonary fibrosis (Hocher et al., 2000), and hepatic fibrosis (Rockey and Chung, 1996).