Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototypical systemic autoimmune disease. While the long-term prognosis has greatly improved, better long-term survival is still necessary. The type I interferon (IFN) signature, a prominent feature of SLE, is not an ideal therapeutic target or outcome predictor. To explore immunological pathways in SLE more precisely, we performed transcriptomic, epigenomic and genomic analyses using 19 immune cell subsets from peripheral blood.
Methods: We sorted 19 immune cell subsets and identified the mRNA expression profiles and genetic polymorphisms in 107 patients with SLE and 92 healthy controls. Combined differentially expressed genes and expression quantitative trait loci analysis was conducted to find key driver genes in SLE pathogenesis.
Results: We found transcriptomic, epigenetic and genetic importance of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS)/mitochondrial dysfunction in SLE memory B cells. Particularly, we identified an OXPHOS-regulating gene, PRDX6 (peroxiredoxin 6), as a key driver in SLE B cells. Prdx6-deficient B cells showed upregulated mitochondrial respiration as well as antibody production. We revealed OXPHOS signature was associated with type I IFN signalling-related genes (ISRGs) signature in SLE memory B cells. Furthermore, the gene sets related to innate immune signalling among ISRGs presented correlation with OXPHOS and these two signatures showed associations with SLE organ damage as well as specific clinical phenotypes.
Conclusion: This work elucidated the potential prognostic marker for SLE. Since OXPHOS consists of the electron transport chain, a functional unit in mitochondria, these findings suggest the importance of mitochondrial dysfunction as a key immunological pathway involved in SLE.
Keywords: B-lymphocytes; autoimmunity; lupus erythematosus, systemic.
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