Biology subjects

Manada De Lobos, V.

Publications and source records attributed to Manada De Lobos, V..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

CX3CR1 And MHCII Define Distinct Synovial Macrophage Populations With Conserved Inflammatory Response Across Mouse Models Of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Macrophages in the synovial lining are critical for the maintenance of healthy tissue while also contributing to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the field currently lacks a unifying characterization of synovial macrophage heterogeneity across steady-state and inflammation. Here, we defined 4 transcriptionally distinct populations of synovial macrophages CX3CR1+MHCII- (lining); CX3CR1-MHCII- (interstitial/sublining); CX3CR1-MHCII+ (monocyte-derived); and CX3CR1+MHCII+ (infiltrating). The MHCII-populations are long-lived and derived from embryonic precursors regardless of localization while the MHCII+ populations differentiate from bone marrow (BM) progenitors dependent on CCR2. We identified conserved activation pathways between acute and chronic mouse models of inflammatory arthritis as well as novel arthritis-associated subpopulations. During peak inflammation, the influx of BM-derived cells was associated with upregulation of monocyte-related genes with concurrent down-regulation of tissue-resident genes. Our results provide a unifying schema for describing synovial macrophages across conditions and pave the way for future studies in modulating transcriptional activity in rheumatoid arthritis.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2026

Circulating Immune Cells are Associated with Non-Inflammatory Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Over half of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) report clinically meaningful pain, despite treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). While joint inflammation is a known cause of pain in patients with rheumatic diseases, emerging data indicate that many patients also suffer from centralized or nociplastic pain. There is a critical unmet need to characterize the altered cellular state that distinguishes patients with centralized pain. In the IMPACT study, 39 RA patients with minimal joint inflammation but varying levels of pain underwent quantitative sensory testing (QST) to assess nociplastic pain, completed patient-reported outcome (PRO) surveys, and provided blood samples for immune profiling. Supervised and unsupervised analysis of the multi-parameter spectral flow cytometry data identified immune cell populations correlated with nociplastic pain and patient-reported pain intensity. Moreover, analyses of single-cell RNA-seq from a subset of 22 patients revealed differences in cell type proportions and differential expression between the high and low pain groups. These studies provide novel insights into the role of circulating immune cells in altered central nervous system (CNS) pain regulation in adults with RA.

immunology↗