An image of Professor Mariola Kurowska-Stolarska in the lab addressing the camera during a video interview. Beside her is a burgundy graphic box including the Arthritis UK

The School of Infection & Immunity is delighted to report that research by Dr Lucy MacDonald, Dr Aziza Elmesmari, Dr Domenico Somma, and Jack Frew, under the leadership of Professor Mariola Kurowska-Stolarska and Dr Stefano Alivernini, has been shortlisted in Arthritis UK’s Research Highlight of the Year 2025 competition.

Their paper, Synovial tissue myeloid dendritic cell subsets exhibit distinct tissue-niche localization and function in health and rheumatoid arthritis, was published in Immunity in December 2024.

The study used cutting-edge single-cell, spatial transcriptomics  and functional assays to map how different dendritic cell populations behave within joint tissue in both healthy individuals and people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

The research reveals, for the first time, that specific immune cell clusters occupy distinct ‘niches’ within synovial tissue - their role in maintaining tissue homeostasis/tolerance versus inflammation

Key findings include:

  • Healthy joints contain tolerogenic AXL+ DC2s - cells that help maintain tissue immune tolerance - located within the synovial lining.
  • Active RA sees these protective cells replaced by inflammatory DC3s, which activate effector memory T cells and drive synovitis.
  • Newly formed lymphoid niches in inflamed tissue host CCR7+ DC2s interacting with naïve T cells, potentially fuelling the expansion of new effector T cells.
  • Remission, while associated with resolution of inflammatory niches, does not restore the tolerogenic DC2 population and shows early activation of their blood precursors linked to future flares.

The authors suggest that targeting inflammatory DC3s, or restoring tolerogenic AXL+ DC2s, could offer new strategies to re-establish immune balance in RA, an area where current treatments fall short.

Arthritis UK’s competition aims to highlight exceptional research made possible through its funding. 

This year’s shortlist was selected by a panel of charity staff, scientific experts and research partners, who narrowed a highly competitive field down to six finalists.

Public voting to select the overall winner opened this week via Arthritis UK’s website, social media channels, and email communications, with the winner announced by Thursday, 18 December.

As finalists, corresponding author Professor Kurowska-Stolarska will work with the charity to help showcase the importance of their findings to the arthritis community through videos, commentary, or other outreach.

First published: 4 December 2025

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