In particular, the number of patients who were positive for these defined cut-off values was, in the case of RA-ILD+ patients, 32 for MMP-7 and 21 for MMP-10, and regarding SSc-ILD+ patients, 21 for MMP-7 and 32 for MMP-10 (Fig. 4). The gene discussed is MMP10; the disease is rheumatoid arthritis.