Bagging experiments after resampling with permutation, showed that ten proteins were significantly associated with the development of definite SSc in preclinical samples: NKp30, Endostatin, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1), FGF18, phospohexose isomerase (PHI), Fibronectin 1.3 (FN1.3), Ubiquitin +1, platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase-β subunit (PAF-AHβ), fatty acid binding protein (FABP) (Table 1). The gene discussed is FGF18; the disease is systemic sclerosis.