IL-6/STAT3 pathway induced deficiency of RFX1 contributes to Th17-dependent autoimmune diseases via epigenetic regulation
Open accessAbstract
Epigenetic modifications affect the differentiation of T cell subsets and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, but many mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of T cell differentiation are unclear. Here we show reduced expression of the transcription factor RFX1 in CD4+ T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, which leads to IL-17A overexpression through increased histone H3 acetylation and decreased DNA methylation and H3K9 tri-methylation. Conditional deletion of Rfx1 in mice exacerbates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and pristane-induced lupus-like syndrome and increases induction of Th17 cells. In vitro, Rfx1 deficiency increases the differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells into Th17 cells, but this effect can be reversed by forced expression of Rfx1. Importantly, RFX1 functions downstream of STAT3 and phosphorylated STAT3 can inhibit RFX1 expression, highlighting a non-canonical pathway that regulates differentiation of Th17 cells. Collectively, our findings identify a unique role for RFX1 in Th17-related autoimmune diseases.
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The c.*935G>A variant is not located in a known miRNA binding site according to PicTar and miRDB.
“However, this variant is not located in a known miRNA binding site according to PicTar and miRDB database [22,23].”
From Identification of Genetic Variants Regulating the Abundance of Clinically Relevant Plasma Proteins using the Diversity Outbred Mouse Model (2021) · cites this paper as [23]
The Results section on RFX1 regulation of the IL17A locus discusses predicted transcription-factor binding sites, not miRNA binding sites. Searches for c.*935G>A, PicTar, miRDB, and miRNA binding sites found no passage addressing the variant or the claimed database result. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Deng, Z., Chen, M., Zhao, Z., Xiao, W., Liu, T., Peng, Q., Wu, Z., Xu, S., Shi, W., Jian, D., et al. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39761-2 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationPhiltjens, S., Acri, D. J., Kim, B., Kim, H., & Kim, J. (2021) · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-171899/v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“We also report both coding and non-coding variants in the Rfx1 gene that alter IL-17A plasma protein abundance, replicating a known connection between RFX1 and IL-17A in mouse and human [28].”
Background
- Authors
- Zhao, M., Tan, Y., Peng, Q., Huang, C., Guo, Y., Liang, G., Zhu, B., Huang, Y., Liu, A., Wang, Z., Li, M., Gao, X., Wu, R., Wu, H., Long, H., & Lu, Q.
- Affiliations
- Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhao, Ming
- Lu, Qianjin
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2018-02-08
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 583-583
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5805701
- OpenAlex
- W2805319241
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 8
- FWCI
- 6.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81270024, 81522038, 81220108017)
- Central South University (2016CX029)
- Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (14JJ1009)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Psoriasis: Treatment and Pathogenesis
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rheumatology › Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Research
- Keywords
- RFX1, Th17 cells, IL-6/STAT3 signaling, epigenetic regulation, CD4+ T cell differentiation, systemic lupus erythematosus, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, histone H3 acetylation, DNA methylation, H3K9 trimethylation, IL-17A, transcription factor regulation
- MeSH terms
- Regulatory Factor X1, Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Cell Differentiation, Cells, Cultured, Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental, Female, Humans, Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Middle Aged, Phosphorylation, Signal Transduction, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Interleukin-6, Mice, Knockout, Jurkat Cells, Epigenesis, Genetic, STAT3 Transcription Factor, Young Adult, HEK293 Cells, Th17 Cells
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