Matters of life and death: How estrogen and estrogen receptor binding to the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus may influence outcomes of infection, allergy, and autoimmune disease.

Matters of life and death: How estrogen and estrogen receptor binding to the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus may influence outcomes of infection, allergy, and autoimmune disease. Cell Immunol. 2019 Dec;346:103996 Authors: Jones BG, Penkert RR, Surman SL, Sealy RE, Pelletier S, Xu B, Neale G, Maul RW, Gearhart PJ, Hurwitz JL Abstract Sex hormones are best known for their influences on reproduction, but they also have profound influences on the immune response. Examples of sex-specific differences include: (i) the relatively poor control of influenza virus infections in males compared to females, (ii) allergic asthma, an IgE-associated hypersensitivity reaction that is exacerbated in adolescent females compared to males, and (iii) systemic lupus erythematosus, a life-threatening autoimmune disease with a 9:1 female:male bias. Here we consider how estrogen and estrogen receptor α (ERα) may influence the immune response by modifying class switch recombination (CSR) and immunoglobulin expression patterns. We focus on ERα binding to enhancers (Eμ and the 3' regulatory region) and switch sites (Sµ and Sε) in the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus. Our preliminary data from ChIP-seq analyses of purified, activated B cells show estrogen-mediated changes in the positioning of ERα binding within and near Sµ and Sε. In the presence of estrogen, ERα is bound not only to estrogen response elements (ERE), but also to adenosine-cytidine (AC...
Source: Cellular Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Cell Immunol Source Type: research