Enhancers in Autoimmune Arthritis: Implications and Therapeutic Potential

Arthritis & Rheumatology
First published: 27 September 2017
DOI: 10.1002/art.40194

Janneke G. C. Peeters, Sebastiaan J. Vastert, Femke van Wijk and Jorg van Loosdregt

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with autoimmune diseases, including autoimmune arthritis. So far, it has proven difficult to translate these findings into disease understanding and novel therapeutic approaches as the majority of these SNPs are not located in protein-coding regions. Recently, various studies found that a large number of autoimmune disease–associated SNPs affect DNA regulatory units, suggesting that altered epigenetic control of transcription is an important process in disease pathogenesis [1, 2]. Technical developments have allowed for detailed analysis of the epigenetic profile of disease-associated cells, creating new opportunities to study gene regulation in the context of disease.

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