SPP1 and systemic sclerosis: Since aberrant β-Catenin and Myc signaling have been shown to exert profibrotic effects in systemic sclerosis, pulmonary and renal fibrosis and induce OPN expression37,40–45, we performed qPCR to confirm the RNA-Seq results and found that β-Catenin and Myc mRNA were significantly higher expressed in RIM compared to control (p = 0.0462 and p = 0.0414; Fig. 4a and b).