ArticleJournal of scleroderma and related disorders2026
AhR agonist Ficz modulates T follicular helper cells and ameliorates skin fibrosis in a bleomycin-induced SSc mouse model.
Article in Journal of scleroderma and related disorders, 2026. 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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Abstract
Objectives: T follicular helper (Tfh) cells are involved in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Recent investigations have revealed aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) regulated skin fibrosis in SSc. This study aims to explore the effect of AhR agonist Ficz on Tfh in a bleomycin (BLM)-induced SSc mouse model. Methods: BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to the control group (Ctrl), BLM-induced SSc mouse group (BLM) and the Ficz treatment group (BLM+Ficz). BLM (1 mg/kg/day) and Ficz (1 µg/mouse/48 hours) were injected subcutaneously for 4 weeks. Skin lesions were harvested for HE staining, Masson's trichrome (Masson) staining, double immunofluorescence as well as real-time quantitative PCR. Flow cytometry analysis was carried out to determine the proportion of peripheral Tfh cells. Results: We found that Ficz treatment effectively attenuated dermal thickness, collagen content and the expression of fibrosis-related genes, including Conclusions: Ficz, an AhR agonist, can alleviate skin fibrosis in BLM-induced SSc mice, which may relate to the reduction of Tfh cells and its downstream cytokine interleukin-21 expression through the activation of AhR pathway.
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