Pemphigus is an autoimmune
skin disease.
Ectopic lymphoid-like structures (ELSs) were found to be commonly present in the
pemphigus lesions, presumably supporting in situ
desmoglein (Dsg)-specific antibody production. Yet functional phenotypes and the regulators of Lymphoid aggregates in
pemphigus lesions remain largely unknown. Herein, we used microarray technology to profile the gene expression in skin lesion infiltrating mononuclear cells (SIMC) from
pemphigus patients. On top of that, we compared SIMC dataset to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) dataset to characterize the unique role of SIMC. Functional enrichment results showed that mononuclear cells in skin lesions and peripheral blood both had over-represented
IL-17 signaling pathways while neither was characterized by an activation of
type I Interferon signaling pathways. Cell-type identification with relative subsets of known
RNA transcripts (CIBERSORT) results showed that naïve natural killer cells (NK cells) were significantly more abundant in
pemphigus lesions, and their relative abundance positively correlated with B cells abundance. Meanwhile, plasma cells population highly correlated with type 1 macrophages (M1) abundance. In addition, we also identified a
lncRNA LINC01588 which might epigenetically regulate T helper 17 cells (Th17)/regulatory T cells (Treg) balance via the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (
PPAR) signaling pathway. Here, we provide the first transcriptomic characterization of lesion infiltrating immune cells which illustrates a distinct interplay network between adaptive and innate immune cells. It helps discover new regulators of local immune response, which potentially will provide a novel path forward to further uncover
pemphigus pathological mechanisms and develop targeted
therapy.