Lupus, DNA Methylation, and Air Pollution: A Malicious Triad.

The pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remains elusive to this day; however, genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors have been implicated to be involved in disease pathogenesis. Recently, it was demonstrated that in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, interferon-regulated genes are hypomethylated in naïve CD4 T cells, CD19 B lymphocytes, and CD14 monocytes. This suggests that interferon-regulated genes may have been epigenetically poised in SLE patients for rapid expression upon stimulation by different environmental factors.