Epigenetic code n patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Lupus :: Epigenetic code n patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia hope to reset part of the "epigenetic code" in lupus patients.

The epigenetic research focuses on histones, the tiny spools in the nuclei of cells around which DNA winds and compacts when it is not in the process of copying in cell division. Epigenetic changes in the histones are those that can alter gene expression - and associated proteins - without altering the underlying DNA sequence, said Nilamadhab Mishra, a rheumatologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

"The histone code is one of the master regulators in gene expression," he said.

In the Journal of Proteome Research of the American Chemical Society, Mishra and colleagues said their study was the first to establish the association between aberrant histone codes and the mechanisms underlying lupus ( systemic lupus erythematosus ), which is an autoimmune disorder.