Modern Medical Laboratory Journal

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic multisystem orphan disease with a highly variable clinical course, significant mortality and a poorly understood complex pathogenesis. Researchers found a unique immune cell plays a key role in the chronic inflammation and scarring in the lungs and skin of people with scleroderma. Short-term treatment of mice with a novel nanoparticle composed of a carboxylated FDA-approved biodegradable polymer, poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLG), which modulates activation and trafficking of MARCO⁺ inflammatory monocytes, markedly attenuated bleomycin-induced skin and lung inflammation and fibrosis. Mechanistically, in isolated cells in culture PLG nanoparticles inhibited TGF-β-dependent fibrotic responses in vitro. Thus MARCO⁺ monocytes are potent effector cells of skin and lung fibrosis, and can be therapeutically targeted in SSc using PLG nanoparticles.
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