Fig. 4: Functional heterogeneity of myofibroblasts in human fibrosis.
From: Cellular census of human fibrosis defines functionally distinct stromal cell types and states
a Line plot demonstrating CD82 expression in myofibroblasts (loess smoothed normalised counts ± SE) along pseudotime (myofibroblast activation trajectory) in single-cell RNA-seq (n = 12 DD patients). b Above, Heatmaps of traction force microscopy analysis showing magnitude of traction force (Pascals) in freshly isolated FACS sorted myofibroblasts (CD82high and CD82low). Below, surface plots of traction force microscopy showing representative force foci from sorted myofibroblasts (Scaled to 800 Pa). Colour scale represents force range per cell. c Bar plots of traction force microscopy analysis showing mean and maximum traction force per cell in CD82high and CD82low sorted myofibroblast populations (n = 3 DD patients, >15 cells per condition). Two-sided unpaired t test, mean ± SEM. p Values = 0.0056 (max traction), and 0.0098 (mean traction). d tSNE projection of traction force microscopy analysis showing clustering of single cell force signatures in sorted populations (CD82high and CD82low) (n = 3 DD patients, >15 cells per condition). e Box and whisker plot of flow cytometry analysis showing cell cycle phases in siControl and siCD82 transfected DD myofibroblasts (n = 3 DD patients). Two-sided paired t test, p value = 0.023, mean ± SEM). (siRNA range 2.6–85.5%, mean 32.8% and box bounds 9.75–45.2% represent first and third quantiles. siCD82 range 1.1–87.1%, mean 32.7% and box bounds 3.1–59.8% represent first and third quantiles.) f tSNE projections of single-cell RNA-seq showing fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in bleomycin murine model marked by the expression of selected genes in scaled log(UMI + 1) (n = 2 mice). g tSNE projection of single cell RNA-seq showing murine fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in bleomycin model coloured by Louvain clusters (n = 2 mice). h Bar plot of single cell RNA-seq showing the percentage of stromal cells before (Day 0) and after (Day 21) the installation of bleomycin in murine lung fibrosis model. i Confocal images of immunofluorescence showing co-expression of CD82, α-SMA and PDGFR-α in human IPF (n = 3 independent IPF patients). Scale bar = 20 µm.
