ArticleArthritis research & therapy2018
Effects of CTLA4-Ig treatment on circulating fibrocytes and skin fibroblasts from the same systemic sclerosis patients: an in vitro assay.
Article in Arthritis research & therapy, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of different pharmacological therapies for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- CTLA4-Ig reduces proliferation and inflammatory gene expression in muscle fibroblasts, corresponding to less fibrosis and inflammation inAmerican journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2026Article
- Circulating Fibrocytes: Cellular Mediators of Tissue Fibrosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Immunometabolic Approaches Mitigating Foreign Body Response and Transcriptome Characterization of the Foreign Body Capsule.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Article
- Intratumoral fibrosis and patterns of immune infiltration in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.BMC cancer · 2022Article
- Upcoming treatments for morphea.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2021Review
- In vitro effect of biological and conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs on fibrocyte differentiation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls.European journal of rheumatology · 2021Article
- Nintedanib downregulates the transition of cultured systemic sclerosis fibrocytes into myofibroblasts and their pro-fibrotic activity.Arthritis research & therapy · 2021Article
- Safety and efficacy of abatacept in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (ASSET): open-label extension of a phase 2, double-blind randomised trial.The Lancet. Rheumatology · 2020Article
- Is biological therapy in systemic sclerosis the answer?Rheumatology international · 2020Review
- Correlation between circulating fibrocytes and dermal thickness in limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis patients: a pilot study.Rheumatology international · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSystemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by vasculopathy and progressive fibrosis. CTLA4-Ig (abatacept) is able to interact with the cell surface costimulatory molecule CD86 and downregulate the target cell. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in-vitro effects of CTLA4-Ig treatment on circulating fibrocytes and skin fibroblasts isolated from the same SSc patient.
methodsCirculating fibrocytes and skin fibroblasts were obtained from eight SSc patients with "limited" cutaneous involvement and from four healthy subjects (HSs). Samples were analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis (FACS) at baseline (T0) and after 8 days of culture (T8) for CD45, collagen type I (COL I), CXCR4, CD14, CD86, and HLA-DRII expression. Circulating fibrocytes were treated for 3 h and skin fibroblasts for 24/48 h with CTLA4-Ig (10, 50, 100, 500 μg/ml). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed for CD86, COL I, FN, TGFβ, αSMA, S100A4, CXCR2, CXCR4, CD11a, and Western blotting was performed for COL I and FN.
resultsUsing qRT-PCR, the T8-cultured SSc circulating fibrocytes which had not been treated with CTLA4-Ig showed higher gene expression for CD86, αSMA, S100A4, TGFβ, and COL I compared with HS circulating fibrocytes. Interestingly, αSMA/COL I gene expression was significantly lower only in the SSc circulating fibrocytes treated with CTLA4-Ig for 3 h (p < 0.01, p < 0.05). On the contrary, no effects were observed for either SSc or HS skin fibroblasts after CTLA4-Ig treatment. COL I and FN protein expression was unchanged in both SSc and HS skin fibroblasts by Western blot.
conclusionsCirculating fibrocytes seem to be more responsive to CTLA4-Ig treatment than skin fibroblasts from the same SSc patient, likely due to their higher expression of CD86. CTLA4-Ig treatment might downregulate the fibrotic process in SSc patients by downregulating the fibrocytes, circulating progenitor cells.
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Registered trials
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