Hong Wenxiang, Ma Hongbo, Li Zhibin, Du Yiwen, Xia Wenjing, Yin Han, Huang Han, Sun Zebing, Gai Renhua, Tong Lexian, Zhu Hong, Wang Jincheng, Yang Bo, He Qiaojun, Weng Qinjie, Wang Jiajia
Center for Drug Safety Evaluation and Research, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Innovation Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
J Neuroinflammation. 2025 Apr 1;22(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12974-025-03429-z.
The epigenetic modification of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) by the embryonic ectoderm development (EED) protein is closely associated with the regulation of transcriptional programs and is implicated in autoimmune diseases. However, the efficacy of targeting H3K27me3 for the treatment of neuroinflammation remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that systemic administration of an EED inhibitor diminishes the inflammatory response mediated by dendritic cells (DCs), thereby alleviating experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), a representative mouse model of autoimmune diseases in the central nervous system (CNS). Our findings indicate that EED inhibitors suppress DC migration by upregulating genes in the WNT signaling pathway that are epigenetically marked by H3K27me3. Conversely, inhibiting the WNT pathway partially reverses the impaired DC migration caused by EED inhibitors. Additionally, the genetic deletion of Eed inhibits DC migration and effectively mitigates autoimmune symptoms and inflammatory infiltration into the CNS in EAE. These results highlight EED as a critical regulator of DC migration and suggest its potential as a therapeutic target for autoimmune disorders.
胚胎外胚层发育(EED)蛋白对组蛋白H3赖氨酸27三甲基化(H3K27me3)的表观遗传修饰与转录程序的调控密切相关,并与自身免疫性疾病有关。然而,靶向H3K27me3治疗神经炎症的疗效仍不明确。在本研究中,我们证明全身给予EED抑制剂可减少树突状细胞(DC)介导的炎症反应,从而减轻实验性自身免疫性脑脊髓炎(EAE),这是一种中枢神经系统(CNS)自身免疫性疾病的代表性小鼠模型。我们的研究结果表明,EED抑制剂通过上调WNT信号通路中被H3K27me3表观遗传标记的基因来抑制DC迁移。相反,抑制WNT通路可部分逆转EED抑制剂导致的DC迁移受损。此外,Eed基因缺失可抑制DC迁移,并有效减轻EAE中的自身免疫症状和炎症向CNS的浸润。这些结果突出了EED作为DC迁移的关键调节因子,并表明其作为自身免疫性疾病治疗靶点的潜力。