Cross-tissue, single-cell stromal atlas identifies shared pathological fibroblast phenotypes in four chronic inflammatory diseases

Ilya Korsunsky, Kevin Wei, Mathilde Pohin, Edy Y. Kim, Francesca Barone, Triin Major, Emily Taylor, Rahul Ravindran, Sam Kemble, Gerald F. M. Watts, A. Helena Jonsson, Yunju Jeong, Humra Athar, Dylan Windell, Joyce B. Kang, Matthias Friedrich, Jason Turner, Saba Nayar, Benjamin A. Fisher, Karim RazaJennifer L. Marshall, Adam P. Croft, Tomoyoshi Tamura, Lynette M. Sholl, Marino Vivero, Ivan O. Rosas, Simon J. Bowman, Mark Coles, Andreas P. Frei, Kara Lassen, Andrew Filer, Fiona Powrie*, Christopher D. Buckley*, Michael B. Brenner*, Soumya Raychaudhuri*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Background
Pro-inflammatory fibroblasts are critical for pathogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, interstitial lung disease, and Sjögren’s syndrome and represent a novel therapeutic target for chronic inflammatory disease. However, the heterogeneity of fibroblast phenotypes, exacerbated by the lack of a common cross-tissue taxonomy, has limited our understanding of which pathways are shared by multiple diseases.
Methods
We profiled fibroblasts derived from inflamed and non-inflamed synovium, intestine, lungs, and salivary glands from affected individuals with single-cell RNA sequencing. We integrated all fibroblasts into a multi-tissue atlas to characterize shared and tissue-specific phenotypes.
Findings
Two shared clusters, CXCL10+CCL19+ immune-interacting and SPARC+COL3A1+ vascular-interacting fibroblasts, were expanded in all inflamed tissues and mapped to dermal analogs in a public atopic dermatitis atlas. We confirmed these human pro-inflammatory fibroblasts in animal models of lung, joint, and intestinal inflammation.
Conclusions
This work represents a thorough investigation into fibroblasts across organ systems, individual donors, and disease states that reveals shared pathogenic activation states across four chronic inflammatory diseases.
Funding
Grant from F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche) AG.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)481-518
Number of pages53
JournalMed
Volume3
Issue number7
Early online date31 May 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jul 2022

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