030 VGLL3, an orchestrator of female-biased autoimmunity, interfaces with the Hippo pathway to modulate genes involved in immunity and fibrosis

Autoimmune disease is the leading cause of morbidity among women. For largely unknown reasons, many autoimmune diseases show a striking female bias. Fibrosis is a common feature of female-biased autoimmune diseases. This is exemplified by systemic sclerosis (SSc), a debilitating disease marked by progressive skin hardening and organ damage that affects women at ninefold the rate of men. We previously identified the transcriptional cofactor VGLL3 as an immune regulator enriched in female skin whose targets overlap significantly with genes dysregulated in SSc.

Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology - June 17, 2020 Category: Dermatology Authors: A.C. Billi, C. Zeng, M. Gharaee-Kermani, S.W. Stoll, M.J. Wilson, O. Plazyo, X. Xing, J.M. McCarthy, L.C. Tsoi, J. Kahlenberg, A.A. Dlugosz, J.E. Gudjonsson Tags: Adaptive and Auto-Immunity Source Type: research