Autoimmune diseases now include over 100conditions and are estimated to affect over 20 millionpeople in the United States or 5% of the world populationwith numerous geographical differences coined as geoepidemiology.Further, concordance rates in monozygotictwins are significantly higher compared to dizygotic sets whilebeing significantly below 50%for most autoimmune diseases.These lines of evidence suggest that additional mechanismsare needed to link the individual susceptibility with theproposed chemical and infectious factors in the environment.Epigenetics may well constitute this missing link to includeDNA methylation, histone changes, and microRNA whichcontribute to the epigenome characterizing specific diseases.Importantly, these epigenetic changes may be idealtargets for new personalized treatments as suggestedby data in cancer. A number of chemical and physicalfactors, along with proposed infectious agents or aging,are involved in the etiopathogenesis of autoimmunediseases through epigenetic changes. The most prominentevidence on the association between environmentand autoimmunity has been reported in systemic lupuserythematosus, but similar mechanisms were proposedin rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, and type 1diabetes
The therapeutic potential of epigenetics in autoimmune diseases
M. De santis;C. Selmi
2011-01-01
Abstract
Autoimmune diseases now include over 100conditions and are estimated to affect over 20 millionpeople in the United States or 5% of the world populationwith numerous geographical differences coined as geoepidemiology.Further, concordance rates in monozygotictwins are significantly higher compared to dizygotic sets whilebeing significantly below 50%for most autoimmune diseases.These lines of evidence suggest that additional mechanismsare needed to link the individual susceptibility with theproposed chemical and infectious factors in the environment.Epigenetics may well constitute this missing link to includeDNA methylation, histone changes, and microRNA whichcontribute to the epigenome characterizing specific diseases.Importantly, these epigenetic changes may be idealtargets for new personalized treatments as suggestedby data in cancer. A number of chemical and physicalfactors, along with proposed infectious agents or aging,are involved in the etiopathogenesis of autoimmunediseases through epigenetic changes. The most prominentevidence on the association between environmentand autoimmunity has been reported in systemic lupuserythematosus, but similar mechanisms were proposedin rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, and type 1diabetesI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
