Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41363790›Full record

ArticleJournal of innate immunity2025

Compartment-Specific NK Cell Phenotypes Reveal Distinct Maturation and Activation States in Inflammatory Arthritis.

Franca Sophie Deicher, Tarik Exner, Maren Claus, Schayan Yousefian, Lea Rodon, Sophie Elisabeth Leonhardt, Jörg H W Distler, Carsten Watzl, Hanns-Martin Lorenz, Simon Haas and 2 more

Abstract read
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Article in Journal of innate immunity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Franca Sophie DeicherDepartment of Rheumatology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Tarik ExnerDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Maren ClausLeibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors at TU Dortmund (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany.
Schayan YousefianBerlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Lea RodonDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Sophie Elisabeth LeonhardtDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Jörg H W DistlerDepartment of Rheumatology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Carsten WatzlLeibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors at TU Dortmund (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany.
Hanns-Martin LorenzDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Simon HaasBerlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Daniel HübschmannInnovation and Service Unit for Bioinformatics and Precision Medicine, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany.
Wolfgang MerktDepartment of Rheumatology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, Germany, wolfgang.merkt@med.uni-duesseldorf.de.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

<p>Introduction: Synovial natural killer (NK) cells contribute to inflammation in arthritis by secreting cytokines and modulating synovial fibroblast activation. The aim of this study was to describe systemic versus local inflammatory changes of NK cell subsets as well as their physical cell-cell interactions in arthritis patients.

methodsSpectral flow cytometry was used to compare paired peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) immune cells from patients with active inflammatory arthritis and healthy controls. Physical cell-cell interactions within tissues were studied by applying a recently developed cellular interaction mapping framework.

resultsOur paired approach revealed significant local enrichment of immature and activated NK cells in SF, characterized by elevated markers of early differentiation, immune-checkpoint regulation, and tissue-residency, highlighting tightly controlled immune activation at inflamed sites. Single-cell analysis confirmed heterogeneity within SF-NK cells, suggesting multiple co-existing activation states and developmental stages. PB-NK cells from patients differed profoundly compared to healthy controls, showing less immature NK cell subsets and an enrichment of mature, pro-inflammatory subsets indicative of systemic immune activation. Cellular interaction mapping revealed mainly NK/neutrophil interactions of patients' NK cells, while interactions with B-cells, T-cells, or monocytes were negligible. T-cells also displayed profound local and systemic alterations. Cellular interaction mapping revealed that next to NK/neutrophil interactions, interactions between B-cells with monocytes and T-cells with neutrophils characterize joint inflammation.

conclusionThis paired high-dimensional analysis revealed systemic and local alterations in NK cell subsets shaped by co-existing developmental stages and immune regulatory mechanisms. Cellular interaction mapping indicated that neutrophils are a main interaction-partner of NK cells in inflamed joints. </p>.

Indexed as

ArthritisArthritis, RheumatoidKiller Cells, NaturalSynovial FluidAdultAgedCell CommunicationCell DifferentiationFemaleHumansInflammationLymphocyte ActivationMaleMiddle AgedPhenotypeInflammatory arthritisNatural killer cellsProteomicsRheumatoid arthritisRheumatologySpectral flow cytometrySynovial fluid

Identifiers

PMID41363790
PMCPMC12659454

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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.