Sclerotic GvHD and Scleroderma Share Dysregulated Gene Expression that is Ameliorated by EREG Therapeutic Antibody
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PROVIDER: PRJNA1310510 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:Immune driven fibrotic skin diseases including scleroderma/systemic sclerosis (SSc) and chronic graft-versus-host-disease (cGvHD) cause skin stiffening that has major impact on patient quality of life and associated patient mortality. Therapies to improve sclerotic skin resulting from these diseases are largely ineffective. We previously showed that EREG, a DC3 dendritic cell-derived EGFR ligand, is elevated in the skin and lung of patients with SSc and required for maintenance of skin fibrosis. Here, we developed a fully human anti-EREG neutralizing antibody that has both high affinity and specificity. We found this therapeutic antibody to be functional and safe in vivo using human EREG knock-in mice. To understand the antifibrotic mechanism of targeting EREG, we aligned skin single-cell transcriptomic profiles of SSc, morphea (localized scleroderma) and SclGvHD with disease biomarkers. EREG expression in the skin was elevated in all three fibrotic diseases and a driver of TNC production by myofibroblasts in all three fibrotic diseases. TNC is a pro-inflammatory extracellular glycoprotein that functions as an endogenous TLR4 ligand which induces expression of TLR4 target genes CCL2 and IL6. Examination of skin explants from patients with active SclGvHD treated with anti-EREG therapeutic antibody by spatial transcriptomics demonstrated upregulation of matrix degradation by increased MMP and decreased TIMP1 expression. Protein measurements showed reduced secretion of EREG targets TNC, CCL2, and TIMP1 in all patients, and type I collagen and FN1 in 3/4 patients. Thus, sclerotic skin treated with the anti-EREG therapeutic antibody reduced inflammatory and fibrosis biomarkers associated with EGFR and TLR4 signaling.
2025-08-29 | GSE306357 | GEO
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC12643462 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Bone metastasis is a leading cause of death in prostate cancer (PC) patients. Although androgen‐deprivation therapy (ADT) combined with novel androgen‐targeted agents constitutes the cornerstone of systemic treatment, its efficacy is limited. We investigated the adrenal contribution in promoting progression of castration-resistant PC (CRPC) within bone using a preclinical intratibial xenograft model (VCaP, 22Rv1, and LNCaP cells). Mice underwent orchiectomy (ORX) to mimic ADT, with or without adrenalectomy (ORX+ADX) to eliminate adrenal contribution. A significant increase in bone mineral density (BMD) was observed in tumor-grafted tibiae in ORX-treated mice compared to controls (p<0.001), indicating a strong tumor-induced sclerotic response. In contrast, ORX+ADX reduced tumor take rate by approximately 50% and decreased tumor-induced BMD by over 80% (p<0.001). Transcriptomic analysis revealed that ADX downregulated tumor-induced transcripts in bone by over 90%, including osteogenic (Lox, Sparcl1, Bmp2, Postn, Col1a1) and pro-angiogenic (Bmper, Pecam-1, Esam) signatures. Additionally, BMP, PI3K/Akt and ERK1/2 signaling pathways were associated with the tumor-induced bone response. Both high serum progesterone and intratumoral levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were associated with the sclerotic bone phenotype. ADX markedly reduced intratumoral DHT and downregulated glycolytic genes (HK2, PFK2, LDHA) and secretory proteins expressed by the tumor, including Stanniocalcin 2, potentially mediating paracrine effects in the sclerotic bone response. Altogether, these findings highlight the critical role of adrenal- dependent androgen synthesis, particularly via progesterone, in driving the sclerotic CRPC in bone. Our findings suggest that a comprehensive blockade of adrenal contribution is essential to prevent the sclerotic bone response associated with CRPC.
2026-05-31 | GSE333317 | GEO
Project description:Cutaneous sclerotic chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a common and highly morbid complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We identified genes that are significantly upregulated in the skin of sclerotic cGVHD patients (n = 17) compared to HSCT patients without sclerotic cGVHD (n = 9) by bulk RNA sequencing. This revealed two transcriptomic groups of affected patients: those with fibrotic and inflammatory/Th1 gene expression, the fibroinflammatory group, and those with predominantly fibrotic/TGF-associated expression, the fibrotic group. This transcriptomic heterogeneity was also associated with histopathologic heterogeneity, with the fibroinflammatory sub-cluster showing more histopathologic features of epidermal cGVHD and inflammation. Further study will help elucidate if these gene expression and histopathologic findings can be used to tailor treatment decisions. Multiple highly induced genes in the skin (SFRP4, SERPINE2, COMP) were also found to be significantly induced in sclerotic cGVHD patient plasma (n = 16) compared to control HSCT patients without sclerotic cGVHD (n = 17), suggesting these TGF and Wnt pathway mediators as candidate blood biomarkers of disease.
2023-11-14 | GSE216645 | GEO
Project description:Pisolithus & Scleroderma sequences
| PRJEB101132 | ENA
Project description:RNA expression profiling was carried out for systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) on skin biopsies obtained from both diffuse scleroderma (dcSSc) and limited scleroderma (lcSSc) subjects patients and compared to normal subjects. The patient group comprised of 4 dcSSc and 2 lcSSc subjects, all of whom were Caucasian and belonged to the age range of 42-73 (Mean age = 61.6). Patient sample set consisted of 3 females and 3 males. Race matched female volunteers from the same geographical area were recruited as controls (n = 4) and belonged to the age range of 41-62 (Mean age = 52).
2015-03-25 | E-MEXP-1214 | biostudies-arrayexpress