ArticleArthritis research & therapy2013
B lymphocytes and B-cell activating factor promote collagen and profibrotic markers expression by dermal fibroblasts in systemic sclerosis.
Article in Arthritis research & therapy, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Belimumab for the Treatment of Early Diffuse Systemic Sclerosis: Results of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Pilot Trial.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2018Trial
- Safety and tolerability of an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody, MEDI-551, in subjects with systemic sclerosis: a phase I, randomized, placebo-controlled, escalating single-dose study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2016Trial
- B cell depletion therapy upregulates Dkk-1 skin expression in patients with systemic sclerosis: association with enhanced resolution of skin fibrosis.Arthritis research & therapy · 2016Trial
- Imatinib mesylate for the treatment of steroid-refractory sclerotic-type cutaneous chronic graft-versus-host disease.Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation · 2015Trial
- Longitudinal Single-Cell RNA-seq Profiling of Lung Cell Phenotypes, Signaling, and Cross-talk During Fibrosis Resolution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Fibroblasts as Immunological Sentinels in Cutaneous Inflammation: A Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Linking bisphenol a exposure to MASLD: insights from network toxicology and machine learning based on NHANES 2005-2012 data.Toxicology research · 2025Article
- Emerging therapies for the treatment of systemic sclerosis.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2025Review
- The role of B cell-activating factor system in autoimmune diseases: mechanisms, disease implications, and therapeutic advances.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- A review of recent studies on the pathogenesis of Systemic Sclerosis: focus on fibrosis pathways.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Effector and regulatory B-cell imbalance in systemic sclerosis: cooperation or competition?Clinical rheumatology · 2024Review
- Transcriptome Analysis of BAFF/BAFF-R System in Murine Nephrotoxic Serum Nephritis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Elevated serum B-cell activator factor levels predict rapid progressive interstitial lung disease in anti-melanoma differentiation associated protein 5 antibody positive dermatomyositis.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2024Article
- Systemic sclerosis interstitial lung disease: unmet needs and potential solutions.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2024Review
- Extracellular matrix remodelling pathway in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from severe COVID-19 patients: an explorative study.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Characteristics and impact of infiltration of B-cells from systemic sclerosis patients in a 3D healthy skin model.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- The Evolving Landscape of B Cells in Cancer Metastasis.Cancer research · 2023Review
- Back to the future: targeting the extracellular matrix to treat systemic sclerosis.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2023Review
- Association between levels of serum and urinary B cell-activating factor and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity.Archives of rheumatology · 2023Article
- Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionB lymphocytes might play a pathogenic role in dermal fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc). B-cell activating factor (BAFF), a key cytokine for B-cell activation, is increased in the serum and the skin of patients with SSc. However, the ability of B cells directly to stimulate dermal fibroblasts and the role of BAFF are not fully understood. We therefore investigated the involvement of B cells and BAFF in the expression of collagen and profibrotic markers by dermal fibroblasts.
methodsCocultures of blood B cells from healthy blood donors and normal or SSc dermal fibroblasts stimulated with anti-IgM and BAFF were performed. Alpha-SMA, TIMP1, MMP9, COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1 mRNA expression were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Soluble collagen, BAFF, IL-6, IL-1β, TGF-β1, and CCL2 protein secretion were assessed.
resultsCoculture of blood B cells and dermal fibroblasts isolated from SSc patients induced IL-6, TGF-β1, CCL2, and collagen secretion, as well as Alpha-SMA, TIMP1, and MMP9 expression in dermal fibroblasts. Transwell assays demonstrated that this induction was dependent on cell-cell contact. Addition of anti-IgM and BAFF to the coculture increased IL-6, CCL2, TGF-β1, and collagen secretion. B cell- and BAFF-induced collagen secretion was highly reduced by anti-TGF-β1 antibodies.
conclusionsOur results showed for the first time a direct role of B cells on the production of collagen by dermal fibroblasts, which is further enhanced by BAFF. Thus, these results demonstrate a new pathogenic role of B cells and BAFF in fibrosis and systemic sclerosis.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.