Lupus: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Similarities and Differences of Epigenetic Mechanisms in Lupus and Sjogren's Syndrome

Le Dantec C, Charras A, Wesley H Brooks and Yves Renaudineau

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary Sjögren’s syndrome are two systemic autoimmune diseases, which are believed to develop when genetically predisposed individuals undergo epigenetic modifications in response to environmental factors. Recent advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of these two diseases suggest a multi-step process involving environmental factors leading to distinct cell specific deregulation of the epigenetic machinery, and the effect is reinforced in those patients with risk variants mapping to epigenetically-controlled immune regulators. Finally, it was observed that the PKC-delta/Erk/DNMT1 pathway was altered in both diseases and the effects could be reversed thus providing arguments to suggest that therapeutic strategies targeting this pathway would be effective in both diseases.