Investigating the interplay between skin fibroblasts and immune cells in systemic sclerosis patients using tissue engineering approaches

• Grant number: 23/04897-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 18, 2023
• End date: September 17, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Carolina de Oliveira Rodrigues
• Grantee: Djúlio César Zanin da Silva
• Supervisor: Marije Ingrid Koenders
• Host Institution: Hemocentro de Ribeirão Preto. Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da USP (HCMRP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc), Netherlands
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/01429-0 - PHENOTYPIC AND FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF KERATINOCYTES EXPOSED TO SERUM OF SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS PATIENTS TREATED WITH AUTOLOGOUS HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION, BP.DR

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease marked by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, immune dysregulation, and vasculopathy. The skin fibrosis in SSc results from the activation of the resident fibroblasts by immune cells. SSc fibroblasts synthesize, in an aberrant manner, many extracellular matrix molecules (ECM), contributing to skin thickening and stiffening. Thus, we aim to analyze the communication between SSc-derived skin fibroblasts and immune cells using tissue engineering approaches techniques, which mimic the disease microenvironment. For this, we will use a co-culture system with peripheral blood cells (PBMC) and patient-derived skin fibroblasts in 3D cell culture systems. Along with the candidate's current Ph.D. project, which investigates the influence of the exposition of the serum from bone marrow transplanted SSc patients on a keratinocyte lineage, this project will offer a better comprehension of the other cell types involved in cutaneous fibrosis in SSc. At the laboratory of Experimental Rheumatology (Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands), this project will be conducted with robust techniques still not available in Brazil, such as isolation of SSc skin-patients derived fibroblasts followed by co-culture with immune cells using tissue engineering approaches. The results might help in understanding SSc pathogenesis. In the future, the knowledge acquired in the internship abroad would be implemented using samples from transplanted patients, having Experimental Nijmegen research team as permanent collaborators with the University of São Paulo. (AU)