Abstract
Recent reports suggest that DNA methylation is involved in the cause of autoimmune disease. We investigated the alteration of DNA methylation levels in lupus strains of mice, MRL/lpr as a model, which develop an age-dependent lymphadenopathy and autoimmune disease. DNA methylation levels of thymus and axillary lymph nodes in 20-week-old MRL/lpr mice, which are in an autoimmune disease state, were lower than those of 4-week-old MRL/lpr mice with no symptoms as yet. No significant changes were observed in MRL/+ strain mice, which seemed normal at least 20 weeks, while DNA methylation levels in the spleen of both strains of mice increased significantly from the age of 4 to 20 weeks. However, no significant changes of DNA methylation levels in peripheral blood were observed with ageing in MRL strains. Moreover, we clarified that administration of 5-azacytidine had a strong effect on longer survival of MRL/lpr mice and reduced DNA methylation levels in the axillary lymph nodes and spleen. The possible relevance of DNA methylation levels to the progression of autoimmune disease is discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 265-269 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Clinical and Experimental Immunology |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1997 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- 5-azacytidine
- 5-methyldeoxycytidine
- Autoimmune disease
- DNA methylation
- MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology