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La Rivista Italiana della Medicina di Laboratorio 2019 Settembre;15(3):173-7

DOI: 10.23736/S1825-859X.19.00021-5

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Italiano

I meccanismi epigenetici nelle malattie autoimmunitarie

Elio GULLETTA ✉

Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Università Magna Græcia, Catanzaro, Italia

Autoimmune diseases are characterized by aberrant immune responses against healthy cells and tissues, in which the immunogenotype of a given individual plays a basic pathogenetic role. However, the pathogenetic mechanisms and the biological alterations that underlie the development of these conditions remain for the most part unknown. In recent years, experimental data have shown that, in addition to genetics, other complementary mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity, namely those caused by epigenetic modifications. We here review the main epigenetic mechanisms and their role in the pathogenesis of the most significant autoimmune diseases.

KEY WORDS: Epigenomics; MicroRNAs; Autoimmunity