In SSc patients, after IL-17A blockade, the positive relationship between IL-17A and FGF2 was still observed (r2 0.683, p=0.001), while IL-17A concentration showed a negative correlation with TGFβ (r2 -0.576, p<0.001) and CTGF (r2 -0.624, p<0.001). The gene discussed is CCN2; the disease is systemic sclerosis.