Section A Project A04

Cross-talk between skin and joints impairs bone homeostasis in psoriatic arthritis

Skin is an important physical barrier of the body, which, if chronically inflamed, like in psoriasis, leads to bone loss (Rauber, et al., 2017). This interaction between the skin and the bone (skinbone axis) is poorly defined to date. Our project is based on preliminary data that show that innate lymphoid cells may be centrally involved in this skin-bone axis and allow to translocate disease from the skin to the bone. We therefore aim to define molecular pathways that trigger disease spreading from the skin to the bone in order to develop new ways to target inflammatory bone remodelling in these patients. In the first funding period, we will (i) identify molecular culprits in the skin that allow spread of inflammation and (ii) study the functional effects of transmigrating cells within the bone niche. The project will explain how inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis trigger bone loss.