UMMS Affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology
Publication Date
2021-07-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Immune System Diseases | Immunity | Immunopathology | Rheumatology
Abstract
Gain-of-function polymorphisms in the transcription factor IFN regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) are associated with an increased risk of developing systemic lupus erythematosus. However, the IRF5-expressing cell type(s) responsible for lupus pathogenesis in vivo is not known. We now show that monoallelic IRF5 deficiency in B cells markedly reduced disease in a murine lupus model. In contrast, similar reduction of IRF5 expression in macrophages, monocytes, and neutrophils did not reduce disease severity. B cell receptor and TLR7 signaling synergized to promote IRF5 phosphorylation and increase IRF5 protein expression, with these processes being independently regulated. This synergy increased B cell-intrinsic IL-6 and TNF-alpha production, both key requirements for germinal center (GC) responses, with IL-6 and TNF-alpha production in vitro and in vivo being substantially lower with loss of 1 allele of IRF5. Mechanistically, TLR7-dependent IRF5 nuclear translocation was reduced in B cells from IRF5-heterozygous mice. In addition, we show in multiple lupus models that IRF5 expression was dynamically regulated in vivo with increased expression in GC B cells compared with non-GC B cells and with further sequential increases during progression to plasmablasts and long-lived plasma cells. Overall, a critical threshold level of IRF5 in B cells was required to promote disease in murine lupus.
Keywords
Autoimmune diseases, Autoimmunity
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2021 Pellerin et al. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
DOI of Published Version
10.1172/jci.insight.141395
Source
Pellerin A, Yasuda K, Cohen-Bucay A, Sandra V, Shukla P, Jr BKH, Nündel K, Viglianti GA, Xie Y, Klein U, Tan Y, Bonegio RG, Rifkin IR. Monoallelic IRF5 deficiency in B cells prevents murine lupus. JCI Insight. 2021 Aug 9;6(15):e141395. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.141395. PMID: 34197340; PMCID: PMC8410043. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
JCI insight
Related Resources
PubMed ID
34197340
Repository Citation
Pellerin A, Yasuda K, Cohen-Bucay A, Sandra V, Shukla P, Horne Jr. BK, Nundel K, Viglianti GA, Xie Y, Klein U, Tan Y, Bonegio RG, Rifkin IR. (2021). Monoallelic IRF5 deficiency in B cells prevents murine lupus. Open Access Publications by UMass Chan Authors. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.141395. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/4898
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Immune System Diseases Commons, Immunity Commons, Immunopathology Commons, Rheumatology Commons