CD34 and systemic sclerosis: In this regard, by means of TEM and CD34 immunostaining, fibrotic skin lesions from patients with SSc were found to be characterized by a severe impairment in the dermal network of TCs/CD34+ stromal cells, but it remains to be clarified in which extent this may be ascribed to either cellular degeneration and loss or possible transformation into disease-triggering profibrotic myofibroblasts [23,31,32].