Toxic Memories in Systemic Sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by T-cell infiltration in the skin that leads to fibrosis, which can be life-limiting. Although T cells are important, it is not known which types mediate the fibrosis. The work presented by Li et al shows that memory CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells mediate fibrosis via the secretion of IL-13. IL-13 is profibrotic, and it is released in a higher amount in patients with systemic sclerosis. This suggests that targeting IL-13 may be therapeutically beneficial.