Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Rheumatoid arthritis

Fibroblast multiplicity in RA: a synovial state of affairs

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Rheumatology

View current issue Sign up to alerts

Rheumatoid arthritis synovium contains phenotypically and functionally heterogeneous fibroblast-like synoviocytes. Cutting-edge analyses have now defined at least four distinct states of these cells related to their location in the synovium, epigenetic imprinting and the influence of microenvironment mediators.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Fibroblast states in the rheumatoid arthritis synovium.

References

  1. Zhang, F. et al. Defining inflammatory cell states in rheumatoid arthritis joint synovial tissues by integrating single-cell transcriptomics and mass cytometry. Nat. Immunol. 20, 928–942 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith, M. H. et al. Drivers of heterogeneity in synovial fibroblasts in rheumatoid arthritis. Nat. Immunol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01527-9 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Nygaard, G. & Firestein, G. S. Restoring synovial homeostasis in rheumatoid arthritis by targeting fibroblast-like synoviocytes. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 16, 316–333 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Müller-Ladner, U. et al. Synovial fibroblasts of patients with rheumatoid arthritis attach to and invade normal human cartilage when engrafted into SCID mice. Am. J. Pathol. 149, 1607–1615 (1996).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Ainsworth, R. I. et al. Systems-biology analysis of rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes implicates cell line-specific transcription factor function. Nat. Commun. 13, 6221 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Yan, M. et al. ETS1 governs pathological tissue-remodeling programs in disease-associated fibroblasts. Nat. Immunol. 23, 1330–1341 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Wei, K. et al. Notch signalling drives synovial fibroblast identity and arthritis pathology. Nature 582, 259–264 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Boyle, D. L. et al. Improving transcriptome fidelity following synovial tissue disaggregation. Front. Med. 9, 919748 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Firestein, G. S. Invasive fibroblast-like synoviocytes in rheumatoid arthritis. Passive responders or transformed aggressors? Arthritis Rheum. 39, 1781–1790 (1996).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gary S. Firestein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

G.S.F. declares that he has received a research grant from Eli Lilly. C.R.L.M. declares no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Machado, C.R.L., Firestein, G.S. Fibroblast multiplicity in RA: a synovial state of affairs. Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 609–610 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-023-01015-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-023-01015-2

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation