Role of type I interferons and innate immunity in systemic sclerosis: unbalanced activities on distinct cell types?

The role of type I IFNs (IFN-I) in the promotion of autoimmunity has been well established. However, its role in the skin fibrosis of systemic sclerosis (SSc) is less clear. IFN-I can participate to tissue repair, and, here, we will consider the extent to which IFN-I's role in SSc skin fibrosis may reflect in part IFN-I functions during wound healing.

Studies are beginning to delineate whether IFN-I has a protective or pathogenic role and how IFN-I affects tissue biology. Recent support for a pathogenic role came from a study depleting plasmacytoid dendritic cells during bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis. The depletion reduced the bleomycin-induced IFN-I-stimulated transcripts and both prevented and reversed fibrosis. Additionally, two recent articles, one identifying SSc endothelial cell injury markers and one showing repressed IFN signaling in SSc keratinocytes, suggest the possibility of unbalanced IFN-I activities on distinct cells types.

Recent results support a pathogenic role for IFN-I in skin fibrosis, and recent studies along with others suggest a scenario whereby SSc skin damage results from too much IFN-I-activity driving vasculopathy in combination with too little IFN-I-mediated epidermal integrity and antifibrotic fibroblast phenotype.