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Pathologically distinct fibroblast subsets drive inflammation and tissue damage in arthritis

ABSTRACT: The identification of lymphocyte subsets with non-overlapping effector functions has been pivotal to the development of targeted therapies in immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). Yet, despite their key role in disease, it remains unclear whether fibroblast subclasses with non-overlapping functions also exist and are responsible for the wide variety of tissue driven pathologies observed in IMIDs such as inflammation and damage . Here we identify and describe the biology of distinct subsets of fibroblasts responsible for mediating either inflammation or tissue damage in arthritis. We show that deletion of FAPa+ synovial cells suppressed both inflammation and bone erosions in murine models of resolving and persistent arthritis. Single cell transcriptional analysis identified two distinct fibroblast subsets: FAPa+ THY1+ immune effector fibroblasts located in the synovial sub-lining, and FAPa+ THY1- destructive fibroblasts restricted to the synovial lining. When adoptively transferred into the joint, FAPa+ THY1- fibroblasts selectively mediate bone and cartilage damage with little effect on inflammation whereas transfer of FAPa+ THY1+ fibroblasts resulted in a more severe and persistent inflammatory arthritis, with minimal effect on bone and cartilage. Our findings describing anatomically discrete, functionally distinct fibroblast subsets with non-overlapping functions have important implications for cell based therapies aimed at modulating inflammation and tissue damage.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE129451 | GEO | 2019/04/09

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Synovial fibroblasts in persistent inflammatory arthritis have been suggested to have parallels with cancer growth and wound healing, both of which involve a stereotypical serum response program. We tested the hypothesis that a serum response program can be used to classify diseased tissues, and investigated the serum response program in fibroblasts from multiple anatomical sites and two diseases. To test our hypothesis we utilized a bioinformatics approach to explore a publicly available microarray dataset including RA, OA and normal synovial tissue, then extended those findings in a new microarray dataset representing matched synovial, bone marrow and skin fibroblasts cultured from RA and OA patients undergoing arthroplasty. The classical fibroblast serum response program discretely classified RA, OA and normal synovial tissues. Analysis of low and high serum treated fibroblast microarray data revealed a hierarchy of control, with anatomical site the most powerful classifier followed by response to serum and then disease. In contrast to skin and bone marrow fibroblasts, exposure of synovial fibroblasts to serum led to convergence of RA and OA expression profiles. Pathway analysis revealed three inter-linked gene networks characterising OA synovial fibroblasts: Cell remodelling through insulin-like growth factors, differentiation and angiogenesis through ?3 integrin, and regulation of apoptosis through CD44. We have demonstrated that Fibroblast serum response signatures define disease at the tissue level, and that an OA specific, serum dependent repression of genes involved in cell adhesion, extracellular matrix remodelling and apoptosis is a critical discriminator between cultured OA and RA synovial fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were isolated from synovium, bone marrow and skin tissue samples taken at the time of knee or hip replacement surgery from 12 rheumatoid arthritis patients meeting the 1987 ACR criteria and 6 osteoarthritis patients diagnosed on the basis of characteristic x-ray findings and the absence of features suggestive of inflammatory arthritis. Only one hip sample was present in either disease group. Fibroblasts were maintained in fibroblast medium (consisting of 81.3% RPMI 1640, 10% FCS, 0.81x MEM non-essential amino acids, 0.81mM sodium orthopyruvate, 1.62mM glutamine, 810U/ml penicillin and 81?g/ml streptomycin) at 37°C in a humidified 5% CO2 atmosphere.