A functional variant in microRNA-146a promoter modulates its expression and confers disease risk for systemic lupus erythematosus.

ABSTRACT: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease with a strong genetic predisposition, characterized by an upregulated type I interferon pathway. MicroRNAs are important regulators of immune homeostasis, and aberrant microRNA expression has been demonstrated in patients with autoimmune diseases. We recently identified miR-146a as a negative regulator of the interferon pathway and linked the abnormal activation of this pathway to the underexpression of miR-146a in SLE patients. To explore why the expression of miR-146a is reduced in SLE patients, we conducted short parallel sequencing of potentially regulatory regions of miR-146a and identified a novel genetic variant (rs57095329) in the promoter region exhibiting evidence for association with SLE that was replicated indep

SUBMITTER: Luo X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3128113 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature