CCN2 and systemic sclerosis: At baseline, IL-17A synthesis in PBMCs from SSc patients showed a significant positive correlation with the synthesis of FGF2 (r2 0.683, p<0.001), whereas no correlation with the synthesis of TFGβ and CTGF was observed (r2 -0,299, p=0,147 and r2 -0.151, p=0.433, respectively).