Hypomethylation of IL10 and IL13 Promoters in CD4⁺ T Cells of Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Figure 4

IL13 promoter methylation patterns in CD4⁺ T cells from SLE patients and healthy controls. (a) The mean methylation status for each of the 20 CG pairs within the distal promoter of the IL13 locus in CD4⁺ T cells from healthy controls (𝑛=10; upper panel) and SLE patients (𝑛=10; lower). The boxed area indicates the region (positions −2100, −2098, −2090, −2085, −2081, and −2076) with reduced methylation in SLE patients. (b) The combined average methylation status of the 6 hypomethylated CG pairs in the distal promoter of IL13 in SLE CD4⁺ T cells was reduced compared with the combined average methylation status of these positions in healthy controls (𝑃=.020). (c) Average IL13 promoter (position −2100 to −2076) DNA methylation status correlated (𝑟=−0.598) with relative mRNA level in SLE patients (𝑃=.006).

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