RT‐qPCR of Validation Cohort. Genes selected for validation of the microarray results. Relative expression of SSc‐PAH (n= 15) versus SSc without PAH (n= 19) was significantly different for 4 genes. TGFBR2 was not validated in this cohort, but approached statistical significance. IL‐7R (294 ± 158 n= 15 vs. 496.9 ± 248, n= 19, p= 0.01); CCR7 (167 ± 121, n= 15 vs. 333.9 ± 209.5, n= 19, p= 0.01); LRRN3 (18.1 ± 12.7, n= 15 vs. 29.6 ± 15.4, n= 19, p= 0.03); NOG (2.8 ± 2.1, n= 15 vs. 7.9 ± 6.7, n= 19, p < 0.01); TGFBR2 (180 ± 53.5, n= 15, 215.4 ± 76.2, n= 19, p= 0.14).