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Updated: Sep 21, 2025
Murine Dermal Fibroblast Isolation by FACS
Published on: January 7, 2016
Cross-tissue, single-cell stromal atlas identifies shared pathological fibroblast phenotypes in four chronic
Ilya Korsunsky1, Kevin Wei2, Mathilde Pohin3
1Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Center for Data Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA.
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.
