Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Inflammatory arthritis

Impaired adipocyte-mediated regulation of fibroblasts in inflammatory arthritis

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 21, page 2 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

In the healthy synovium, in which fibroblasts maintain tissue homeostasis, adipocytes are abundant; however, in inflammatory arthritis, adiposity is lost and fibroblasts mediate joint inflammation and degradation. A study now identifies a link between adipocytes and fibroblasts in the healthy synovium that is lost in disease.

Single-cell RNA sequencing of synovial tissue from healthy individuals and those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA) revealed a gene signature in healthy synovial samples, but not in RA or OA samples, that was characterized by enhanced lipid transport and fatty acid metabolism. Interestingly, treating fibroblasts from individuals with RA with fat-conditioned medium upregulated the gene signature observed in healthy fibroblasts.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

  • Faust, H. J. et al. Adipocyte associated glucocorticoid signaling regulates normal fibroblast function which is lost in inflammatory arthritis. Nat. Commun. 15, 9859 (2024)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Rheumatology http://www.nature.com/nrrheum/

    Holly Webster

Authors
  1. Holly Webster
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holly Webster.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Webster, H. Impaired adipocyte-mediated regulation of fibroblasts in inflammatory arthritis. Nat Rev Rheumatol 21, 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-024-01202-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-024-01202-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing