On the basis of the afore-described functional data, we next explored whether conditioning of LMVECs with SSc serum could somehow modulate the expression of the key lymphangiogenic regulator VEGFR-3/Flt-4, a receptor for both VEGF-C and VEGF-D that transduces growth, survival, and migratory signals in lymphatic endothelial cells [14,15,27,36]. Here, VEGFD is linked to systemic sclerosis.