Besides anti-fibrotic, iguratimod decreases interleukin gene sets that were enriched by GSEA in SSc skin xenograft, in consist with previous findings of iguratimod inhibiting IL-17 producing, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), IL-6 and IL-1β, and suppress of NF-κB activation [24, 32–34]. This evidence concerns the gene IL17A and systemic sclerosis.