A new study in the group of Céline Colnot – Relaix Team by Yasmine Hachemi, Simon Perrin et al. is published in the journal Bone Research on Multimodal analyses of immune cells during bone repair and the identification of macrophages as a therapeutic target in musculoskeletal trauma.

We report an immune cell atlas of bone regeneration. Using single-nucleus transcriptomics, we uncovered parallel inflammatory responses of macrophages and skeletal stem progenitor cells in the early stages of bone healing.

This coordinated process is disrupted in a mouse model of musculoskeletal trauma leading to fibrosis and impaired healing. Modulating macrophage function decreased fibrosis and enhanced bone repair, revealing macrophages as a potential therapeutic target to treat trauma-associated fibrosis.

This study was supported by grants from ANR and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

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