In particular, in the affected skin of SSc patients with the diffuse cutaneous subset pericytes were proved to express type I collagen and the ED-A fibronectin splice variant, an isoform that is de novo expressed during wound healing and fibrotic changes [89], while in mouse pulmonary pericytes stimulation with TGF-β1 was able to increase mRNA expression of type I collagen, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and α-SMA, suggesting the occurrence of a transdifferentiation process in these cells [92]. Here, ACTA1 is linked to systemic sclerosis.