Cross-disease comparison of dermatomyositis and lupus skin identifies inflammatory monocytes and JAK-1 signaling as drivers of vasculopathy in dermatomyositis

Abstract

Dermatomyositis (DM) is a rare yet devastating autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory and vasculopathic changes in skin and muscle. DM and systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) skin lesions have overlapping clinical and histopathological features, yet disparate responses to available therapeutics. DM skin disease is often relapsing and recalcitrant. To investigate DM immunopathogenesis, non-lesional skin, lesional skin, and circulating immune cells from DM patients were analyzed using single-cell RNA-sequencing. Samples were analyzed in parallel with lesional and non-lesional lupus skin, healthy control skin, and peripheral blood. We demonstrate a pervasive type I interferon (IFN) signature in DM stroma that persists in culture and is distinguished from lupus by upregulation of VEGF and IL-18 signaling in DM keratinocytes. Furthermore, endothelial cells (ECs) in lesional DM exhibit decreased proliferation that was not observed in lupus. Using cell communication networks, we identified a population of DM-specific monocytes interacting with non-proliferating DM ECs. Co-culture of monocytes from DM patients with ECs resulted in increased EC apoptosis inhibited by JAK1 blockade. JAK1 inhibition also resulted in reversal of DM-stromal and inflammatory signatures. Together, our data provide a comprehensive cross-disease characterization of lesional and non-lesional skin of DM compared to lupus and implicate monocyte-mediated EC dysfunction in DM vasculopathy and support JAK inhibition for refractory skin disease.