Farhadi Jafar, Nouri Mohammad, Sakhinia Ebrahim, Samadi Nasser, Babaloo Zohreh, Alipour Shahriar, Jadideslam Golamreza, Pouremamali Farhad, Khabbazi Alireza
Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran AND Connective Tissue Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2019 Oct 23;18(5):462-472. doi: 10.18502/ijaai.v18i5.1890.
Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disease with unknown etiology. Although evidence about the pathogenesis of BD is growing, the actual cause of this disease is unclear. Both genetic and epigenetic factors are claimed to play significant roles in BD. Epigenetic factors such as age, gender, smoking as well as exogenous factors like diet, infection, stress are related to the onset and clinical manifestations of BD. DNA methylation refers to a major epigenetic element which influences gene activities with catalyzing DNA using a set of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts). DNA methylation status of many genes in patients with BD is different from that of healthy people. For example, cytoskeletal gene, Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) loci, Long interspersed nuclear element (LINE-1), and Arthrobacter luteus (Alu) repetitive sequences are different in the DNA methylation status in patients with BD and healthy controls. In this paper we reviewed, according to previous studies, the mechanisms of epigenetic, the epigenetic factors involved in the BD, and especially the effect of DNA methylation in the Behcet's disease. Future studies are needed to identify the capability of specific DNA methylation alterations in BD in order to predict disease manifestations, medical course, and response to treatment.
白塞病（BD）是一种病因不明的多系统炎症性疾病。尽管关于白塞病发病机制的证据越来越多，但这种疾病的实际病因仍不清楚。遗传因素和表观遗传因素均被认为在白塞病中起重要作用。年龄、性别、吸烟等表观遗传因素以及饮食、感染、压力等外部因素与白塞病的发病和临床表现有关。DNA甲基化是一种主要的表观遗传元件，它通过一组DNA甲基转移酶（Dnmts）催化DNA来影响基因活性。白塞病患者许多基因的DNA甲基化状态与健康人不同。例如，细胞骨架基因、人类白细胞抗原（HLA）位点、长散在核元件（LINE-1）和黄杆菌（Alu）重复序列在白塞病患者和健康对照者的DNA甲基化状态上存在差异。在本文中，我们根据以往的研究，综述了表观遗传学机制、白塞病中涉及的表观遗传因素，尤其是DNA甲基化在白塞病中的作用。未来的研究需要确定白塞病中特定DNA甲基化改变的能力，以便预测疾病表现、病程和对治疗的反应。
