Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Department of Computer Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Front Immunol. 2019 Jan 8;9:3075. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.03075. eCollection 2018.
Increasing evidence supports the anti-inflammatory role of estrogens in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), originating from the observation of reduction in relapse rates among women with MS during pregnancy, but the molecular mechanisms are still not completely understood. Using an integrative data analysis, we identified T helper (Th) 17 and T regulatory (Treg) cell-type-specific regulatory regions (CSR) regulated by estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). These CSRs were validated in polarized Th17 from healthy donors (HD) and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Th17 and Treg cells from relapsing remitting (RR) MS patients and HD during pregnancy. 17β-estradiol induces active histone marks enrichment at Forkhead Box P3 (FOXP3)-CSRs and repressive histone marks enrichment at RAR related orphan receptor C (RORC)-CSRs in polarized Th17 cells. A disease-associated epigenetic profile was found in RRMS patients during pregnancy, suggesting a FOXP3 positive regulation and a RORC negative regulation in the third trimester of pregnancy. Altogether, these data indicate that estrogens act as immunomodulatory factors on the epigenomes of CD4+ T cells in RRMS; the identified CSRs may represent potential biomarkers for monitoring disease progression or new potential therapeutic targets.
越来越多的证据支持雌激素在多发性硬化症(MS)中的抗炎作用,这源于怀孕期间 MS 女性复发率降低的观察结果,但分子机制仍不完全清楚。我们使用综合数据分析,鉴定了雌激素受体 alpha(ERα)调节的辅助性 T 细胞(Th)17 和调节性 T(Treg)细胞特异性调节区(CSR)。这些 CSR 在来自健康供体(HD)的极化 Th17 和外周血单核细胞、复发缓解型(RR)MS 患者和怀孕期间的 HD 的 Th17 和 Treg 细胞中得到了验证。17β-雌二醇在极化的 Th17 细胞中诱导叉头框 P3(FOXP3)-CSR 处的活性组蛋白标记富集和 RAR 相关孤儿受体 C(RORC)-CSR 处的抑制性组蛋白标记富集。在怀孕期间 RRMS 患者中发现了与疾病相关的表观遗传特征,提示在妊娠的第三个三个月中 FOXP3 正向调节和 RORC 负向调节。总之,这些数据表明雌激素在 RRMS 患者的 CD4+T 细胞的表观基因组中充当免疫调节因子;所鉴定的 CSR 可能代表监测疾病进展或新的潜在治疗靶点的潜在生物标志物。