chemoattractant protein 1 (CCL; MCP-2) and unique target CTGF both mediate pro-fibrotic effects in SSc, CCL2 increases the production of collagen in dermal fibroblasts by inducing the differentiation of interleukin-4 (IL-4)-producing T cells81, and CTGF favor ECM accumulation to promote tissue...
The reaction of immature crosslinks with an additional aldehyde results in the formation of stable trimeric, mature crosslinks pyridinoline (PYD) and deoxypyridinoline (DPD) in the ECM. The cross-linked collagens build and stabilise fibrotic tissues and have increased resistance to enzymatic breakdown ...
This cytokine upregulates the expression of different types of collagen and other ECM proteins, induces the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, and downregulates matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression [4,6,7,11]. In addition to the higher levels of TGF-β observed in SSc, ...