CD8A and systemic sclerosis: Based upon these three studies, combined with the results of a 2011 study that presented 14 parameters that were significantly associated with local skin thickness [37], our two SSc expert dermatopathologists assessed 16 parameters: epidermal thickness, density of perivascular CD3 + and CD8 + lymphocytes, % CD8 + among CD3 + lymphocytes, presence of calcification, and presence of subcutaneous fat loss/widened septa.