These recent papers describe work in the field of stromal cell biology. Fibroblasts were long regarded as simple structural cells and often ignored by immunologists. In these studies of human disease Chris Buckley discusses how recent approaches based on transcriptomics have shone new light on these cells and their role in disease. Given their long lived nature and capacity to remain resident in tissues, they may play particular roles in chronic inflammation. New data allows subsets of such cells to be delineated and potentially in future targeted to provide new therapies in inflammatory disease. Importantly, Prof. Buckley talks here (and in a recent webinar hosted by the Association of Physicians) about how innovative approaches to inflammatory disease can allow targeting of multiple different diseases, based on a deep understanding of the underlying pathology.

Characterization of a pathogenic nonmigratory fibroblast population in systemic sclerosis skin.

Clark KE, Xu S, Attar M, Ong VH, Buckley CD, Denton CP.JCI Insight. 2025 Apr 15;10(10):e185618. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.185618. eCollection 2025 May 22.PMID: 40232859 Free PMC article.

Molecular and spatial analysis of tertiary lymphoid structures in Sjogren's syndrome.

Nayar S, Turner JD, Asam S, Fennell E, Pugh M, Colafrancesco S, Berardicurti O, Smith CG, Flint J, Teodosio A, Iannizzotto V, Gardner DH, van Roon J, Korsunsky I, Howdle D; Roche Fibroblast Network Consortium; Frei AP, Lassen KG, Bowman SJ, Ng WF, Croft AP, Filer A, Fisher BA, Buckley CD, Barone F.Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):5. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54686-0.PMID: 39747819 Free PMC article.

Wnt signaling drives stromal inflammation in inflammatory arthritis.

Mueller AA, Zou AE, Marsh LJ, Kemble S, Nayar S, Watts GFM, Murphy CL, Taylor E, Major T, Gardner D, Buckley CD, Wei K, Raychaudhuri S, Korsunsky I, Filer A, Croft AP, Brenner MB.bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Jan 8:20 25.01.06.631510. doi: 10.1101/2025.01.06.631510.PMID: 39829745 Free PMC article. Preprint.