As compared to sham treated mice, bleomycin model of SSc wild-type mice displayed much greater content of collagens in lung tissues (Fig. 4A); however, the amount of collagens was much less in bleomycin model of SSc Capns1-ko mice than bleomycin model of SSc wild type mice mouse lung tissues as assessed either by Masson trichrome staining of sections (Fig. 4B) or HYP quantitation of lung tissue (Fig. 4C). Here, PHEX is linked to systemic sclerosis.