New insight into the role of fibroblasts in the epithelial immune microenvironment in the single-cell era

Frontiers in Immunology

Immunology

Liangzhe Wang¹  Bo Wang¹  Erwen Kou¹  Yuanjie Zhu¹  Lin Du¹ 

[1] Department of Dermatology, Naval Medical Center, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China;

关键词: fibroblasts;    epithelial immune microenvironment;    inflammatory skin diseases;    single-cell RNA sequencing;    spatial transcriptomics;    cell crosstalk;    prurigo nodularis;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fimmu.2023.1259515

 received in 2023-07-16, accepted in 2023-09-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The skin is exposed to environmental challenges and contains heterogeneous cell populations such as epithelial cells, stromal cells, and skin-resident immune cells. As the most abundant type of stromal cells, fibroblasts have been historically considered silent observers in the immune responses of the cutaneous epithelial immune microenvironment (EIME), with little research conducted on their heterogeneity and immune-related functions. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptomics (ST) have overcome the limitations of bulk RNA sequencing and help recognize the functional and spatial heterogeneity of fibroblasts, as well as their crosstalk with other types of cells in the cutaneous EIME. Recently, emerging single-cell sequencing data have demonstrated that fibroblasts notably participate in the immune responses of the EIME and impact the initiation and progression of inflammatory skin diseases. Here, we summarize the latest advances in the role of fibroblasts in the cutaneous EIME of inflammatory skin diseases and discuss the distinct functions and molecular mechanisms of activated fibroblasts in fibrotic skin diseases and non-fibrotic inflammatory skin diseases. This review help unveil the multiple roles of fibroblasts in the cutaneous EIME and offer new promising therapeutic strategies for the management of inflammatory skin diseases by targeting fibroblasts or the fibroblast-centered EIME.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Wang, Wang, Kou, Du and Zhu