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Peripheral whole blood FOXP3 TSDR methylation: a potential marker in severity assessment of autoimmune diseases and chronic infections |
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| Authors: | Owen Ngalamika Gongping Liang Ming Zhao Xinhai Yu Yang Yang Heng Yin |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Dermatology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Changsha, Hunan, PR China,;2. Dermatology and Venereology Division, University Teaching Hospital, University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia, and;3. Department of Dermatology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Changsha, Hunan, PR China, |
| Abstract: | Immune dysregulation is a cardinal feature of autoimmune diseases and chronic microbial infections. In particular, regulatory T cells are downregulated in autoimmune diseases while upregulated in chronic microbial infections. FOXP3 is the master regulator of Treg development. Treg-specific demethylated region (TSDR) is a highly conserved locus on the FOXP3 gene that is fully demethylated in natural Tregs but methylated in effector T cells. In our study, we used high resolution melt-polymerase chain reaction (HRM-PCR) to determine the FOXP3 TSDR methylation status in autoimmune diseases and chronic microbial infections. We found that FOXP3 TSDR to have the highest mean melting temperature (highly methylated) in active SLE patients compared to all the other groups (p?p?p?p? |
| Keywords: | Autoimmune diseases chronic microbial infections FOXP3 TSDR HRM-PCR psoriasis regulatory T cells systemic lupus erythematosus |