Molecular Mechanisms Behind the Role of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in Systemic Sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects multiple systems. It is characterized by immunological deregulation, functional and structural abnormalities of small blood vessels, and fibrosis of the skin, and, in some cases, internal organs. Fibrosis has a devastating impact on a patient's life and lung fibrosis is associated with high morbimortality. Several immune populations contribute to the progression of SSc, and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) have been identified as crucial mediators of fibrosis. Research on murine models of lung and skin fibrosis has shown that pDCs are essential in the development of fibrosis, and that removing pDCs improves fibrosis. pDCs are a subset of dendritic cells (DCs) that are specialized in anti-viral responses and are also involved in autoimmune diseases, such as SSc, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and psoriasis, mostly due to their capacity to produce type I interferon (IFN). A type I IFN signature and high levels of CXCL4, both derived from pDCs, have been associated with poor prognosis in patients with SSc and are correlated with fibrosis. This review will examine the recent research on the molecular mechanisms through which pDCs impact SSc.

Ploidy Determination in the Pathogenic Fungus Sporothrix spp.

The pathogenic clade of the Sporothrix genus comprises the etiological agents of sporotrichosis, a worldwide emergent disease. Despite the growing understanding of their successful pathogen traits, there is little information on genome sizes and ploidy within the genus. Therefore, in this work, we evaluated the ploidy of four species of the Sporothrix genus, specifically Sporothrix brasiliensis, Sporothrix schenckii, Sporothrix globosa, and Sporothrix pallida. Through cell cycle analysis of the yeast-phase cells, we showed that the DNA content of G0/G1 cells was similar to the genome size determined by whole genome sequencing. Moreover, ploidy of S. schenckii, S. brasiliensis, and S. pallida that was determined by allele composition using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data is consistent with monomorphic positions at each allele. These data show that the analyzed strains of Sporothrix are haploid, or at least aneuploid, thereby laying the foundation for the development of a molecular toolbox for Sporothrix spp.