Response to: ‘Correspondence on ‘Machine learning integration of scleroderma histology and gene expression identifies fibroblast polarisation as a hallmark of clinical severity and improvement’’ by Manetti

We thank Dr Manetti for his comments regarding the distinctive CD34 positive dermal stromal cell population and their pathological changes in systemic sclerosis (SSc) skin.1–4 One challenge for the field of SSc dermatopathology is a lack of broad consensus regarding the terminology used to describe CD34+ cells.5 Indeed, CD34+ cells have been described as fibrocytes,6 stromal fibroblastic cells,7 dermal dendritic cells,8 fibroblasts5 9–11 and...