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Hormones and AID: balancing immunity and autoimmunity
Elisabetta Incorvaia1, Lara Sicouri, Svend K Petersen-Mahrt
1DNA Editing in Immunity and Epigenetics, IFOM-Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare, Milano, Italy.
Autoimmunity
|November 28, 2012
Summary
Estrogen influences autoimmune diseases by activating activation-induced deaminase (AID) in B cells. This review explores how estrogen and other factors regulate AID, impacting immune tolerance and autoantibody production.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Endocrinology
- Genetics
Background:
- Autoimmune diseases arise from genetic and environmental factors.
- Estrogen is implicated in autoimmune diseases with a female bias, like SLE and RA.
- Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is crucial for B cell development and antibody diversification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent findings on how estrogen regulates AID expression.
- To explore direct and indirect pathways of estrogen-mediated AID activation.
- To discuss the role of AID in immune tolerance and autoantibody regulation.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on estrogen, AID, and autoimmunity.
- Analysis of molecular mechanisms including estrogen receptor binding and transcription factor activation.
- Examination of microRNA involvement (miRNA-155, miRNA-181b) and external stimuli (EBV).
Main Results:
- Estrogen directly activates AID via estrogen receptor binding to the AID promoter.
- Estrogen indirectly activates AID through transcription factors like HoxC4.
- Estrogen influences AID expression via microRNA processing and interacts with factors like EBV.
Conclusions:
- Estrogen plays a significant role in immune hyper-stimulation by regulating AID.
- Understanding estrogen-AID pathways is crucial for managing autoimmune diseases.
- AID's role in immune tolerance and autoantibody elimination highlights its importance in autoimmunity.
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