In recent years, two ALR family members, the interferon (IFN)-inducible protein 16 (IFI16) and AIM2, have been linked to the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases, among which systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has recently gained increasing attention.
G-MDSCs produce high levels of ROS (reactive oxygen species) through increasing gp91(phox) expression, and activated TLR2 (Toll-like receptor 2) and AIM2 (absent in melanoma 2) inflammasome in M-MDSCs lead to IL-1β (interleukin 1β) expression in diseased MRL/lpr mice and high-disease-activity SLE patients.
Interestingly, recent studies involving the generation of Nba2 subcongenic mouse lines and generation of mice deficient for the Fcgr2b or Aim2 gene within the interval have provided evidence that epistatic interactions among the Nba2 genes contribute to increased lupus susceptibility.
Given that the murine lupus susceptibility locus Nba2 includes the IFN-regulated genes Ifi202 (encoding for the p202 protein), Aim2 (encoding for the Aim2 protein), and Fcgr2b (encoding for the FcγRIIB receptor), we investigated whether the IRF5/Blimp-1 axis could regulate the expression of these genes.