Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Rheumatol. Nov 12, 2015; 5(3): 127-130
Published online Nov 12, 2015. doi: 10.5499/wjr.v5.i3.127
Epigenetic targets of rheumatoid arthritis
Ghazi Chabchoub
Ghazi Chabchoub, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire Humaine, Faculté de Médecine de Sfax, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia
Ghazi Chabchoub, Caisse National d’assurance Maladie, 3021 Sakiet Ezzit, Tunisia
Author contributions: Chabchoub G solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ghazi Chabchoub, MD, PhD, Médecin Inspecteur, Caisse National d’assurance Maladie, Rue Mongi Slim Sakiet Ezzit, 3021 Sakiet Ezzit, Tunisia. ghazi.chabchoub@laposte.net
Telephone: +216-98-291120
Received: February 5, 2015
Peer-review started: February 7, 2015
First decision: April 10, 2015
Revised: August 24, 2015
Accepted: September 7, 2015
Article in press: September 8, 2015
Published online: November 12, 2015
Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, inflammatory and autoimmune disorder, characterized by chronic arthritis with progressive joint destruction. It has a multifactorial aetiology involving both genetic and environmental factors. Epigenetics can be defined as modifications of DNA that result in altered gene expression. The two main epigenetic mechanisms are post translational modifications to histone tails and DNA methylation. Recent evidence has suggested that epigenetic mechanisms may be an important contributor to RA susceptibility. The aim of this editorial is to present evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of RA and the potential to therapeutic target. Several studies targeting histone modification and DNA methylation in animal models of inflammatory arthritis will be reviewed and alterations in the epigenetic signature of genes of key RA related pathways such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, proteases and regulators of cellular proliferation.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Epigenetic, DNA methylation, Histone modification

Core tip: This paper has highlighted the numerous processes involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that are modulated by epigenetic mechanisms. This is important hypotheses to explore a novel therapeutic target in RA.