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The epigenetic landscape of synovial fibroblasts in health and disease

Speaker: Dr Caroline Ospelt, Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich

Host: Professor Leonie Taams

Caroline’s research focuses on the analysis of innate immune mechanisms and epigenetic changes that activate synovial fibroblasts in rheumatoid arthritis. Recent work from Caroline’s lab has focused on the fact that many inflammatory diseases display characteristic pathology in specific anatomical locations. In the contact of arthritis, they found that synovial fibroblasts from different joint locations display clear transcriptomic differences, creating a unique microenvironment in each joint. These findings indicate that local stroma might control positional disease patterns not only in arthritis but in any disease with a prominent stromal component.

Some recent publications include:

Evaluating the bromodomain protein BRD1 as a therapeutic target in rheumatoid arthritis.

Klein K, Kato M, Frank-Bertoncelj M, Kolling C, Ciurea A, Gay S, Ospelt C.

Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 24;8(1):11125. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29127-w.

Analysis of early changes in DNA methylation in synovial fibroblasts of RA patients before diagnosis.

Karouzakis E, Raza K, Kolling C, Buckley CD, Gay S, Filer A, Ospelt C.

Sci Rep. 2018 May 9;8(1):7370. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-24240-2.

Why location matters - site-specific factors in rheumatic diseases.

Ospelt C, Frank-Bertoncelj M.

Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2017 Jul;13(7):433-442. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2017.96. Epub 2017 Jun 15. Review.

Epigenetically-driven anatomical diversity of synovial fibroblasts guides joint-specific fibroblast functions.

Frank-Bertoncelj M, Trenkmann M, Klein K, Karouzakis E, Rehrauer H, Bratus A, Kolling C, Armaka M, Filer A, Michel BA, Gay RE, Buckley CD, Kollias G, Gay S, Ospelt C.

Nat Commun. 2017 Mar 23;8:14852. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14852.

Synovial fibroblasts in 2017.

Ospelt C.

RMD Open. 2017 Oct 15;3(2):e000471. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2017-000471. eCollection 2017. Review.

Event details

Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Hodgkin Building
Guy’s Campus
Great Maze Pond, London SE1 1UL