Lecture topic 1: Hypoxia-driven immune cell-stromal cell interaction promotes skin chronic GVHD fibrosis

Introduction to the speaker

Song Qingxiao, Hematology Medical Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, Distinguished Professor and Researcher, Selected for the First "New Chongqing" Overseas Talent Introduction Plan Innovation Base Project. Long-term research has been conducted on the immune regulation and therapeutic targets of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Published 17 papers as the first/corresponding author in journals such as Science Translational Medicine and Blood. Won the first prize of Fujian Provincial Medical Science and Technology Award and the second prize of Science and Technology Progress Award 。

Cutaneous fibrosis is one of the most common and difficult-to-reverse clinical manifestations of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), and the tissue microenvironmental mechanisms underlying its continued progression have not yet been fully elucidated. This lecture will introduce how to combine patient samples, animal models, multi-omics, skin organoids and other technologies to analyze the spatial interaction between immune cells and stromal cells and microenvironment remodeling in skin cGVHD. This lecture will focus on the discovery process, key experimental basis and translational significance of this "hypoxia-immune-matrix" fibrosis loop, and further explore the transition from traditional immunosuppression to precise intervention of organ microenvironment, providing new research and treatment ideas for refractory cutaneous cGVHD and other immune-mediated fibrotic diseases.

Xie Xiaodong , a postdoctoral fellow at the Hematology Medical Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, mainly engaged in research on the pathogenesis of chronic graft-versus-host disease and targeted drugs. Currently, he has published 6 SCI papers as the first or co-first author. ； Applied for 5 patents ； Participated in a number of National Natural Science Foundation projects.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a major late complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, characterized by persistent inflammation and progressive fibrosis. Although macrophages have become an important therapeutic target for cGVHD, the mechanisms underlying their functional heterogeneity and persistence of inflammation are still not fully elucidated. This lecture will introduce the team’s research on the status of pathogenic macrophages in cGVHD. The study found that a group of CSF-1R-low inflammatory senescent macrophages was significantly expanded in cGVHD, and sustained type I interferon signaling maintained their inflammatory senescent state through mitochondrial damage and RSAD2–cGAS–STING signaling. Further research found that Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) can reprogram this pathogenic macrophage state and reduce tissue inflammation and fibrosis, providing new intervention ideas for cGVHD.