Gender-dependent Expression of Murine Irf5 Gene: Implications for Sex Bias in Autoimmunity

• Published in: Journal of molecular cell biology 2010-10, Vol.2 (5), p.284-290
• Main Authors: Shen, Hui, Panchanathan, Ravichandran, Rajavelu, Priya, Duan, Xin, Gould, Karen A., Choubey, Divaker
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Autoimmunity; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cells, Cultured; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Gene Expression; Humans; Interferon Regulatory Factors - genetics; Interferon Regulatory Factors - immunology; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - genetics; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - immunology; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred NZB; Mice, Knockout; Sex Factors
• ISSN: 1674-2788; 1759-4685
• DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjq023

Molecular mechanisms that contribute to sex bias in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease, remain unknown. We found that the expression levels of interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5), a lupus susceptibility factor, depend on gender of mice. We found that steady-state levels of the Irf5 mRNA were relatively higher in splenic cells from certain autoimmune-prone mice (for example, NZB and NZB/W F1) than in non-autoimmune C57BL/6 mice. Additionally, levels of Irf5 mRNA and protein were higher in females than in strain and age-matched males. Accordingly, splenic cells from estrogen receptor-alpha (ER ) knockout, when compared with the wild-type (ER +/+), female mice expressed relatively lower levels of Irf5 mRNA and the treatment of splenic cells with 17 -estradiol increased the levels. Furthermore, splenic B cells from the female mice had relatively more IRF5 protein in the nucleus than the male mice. Collectively, our observations demonstrate a gender bias in the expression and sub-cellular localization of the murine IRF5.