Western blot and real‐time PCR analysis revealed that EGFL7 expression was significantly down‐regulated in SSc‐MVECs compared to healthy controls both at mRNA level (P < 0.01)) and at protein level (Figure 6A), which were consistent with the down‐regulated miR‐126 expression in SSc‐MVECs (Figure 1C). This evidence concerns the gene EGFL7 and systemic sclerosis.