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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1475424
This article is part of the Research Topic Hunting for Inflammation Mediators: Identifying Novel Biomarkers for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Diseases View all articles

DNA methylation patterns of circadian and ultradian genes are altered in the peripheral blood of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa

Provisionally accepted
Uppala Radhakrishna Uppala Radhakrishna 1Uppala Ratnamala Uppala Ratnamala 2Devendrasinh Jhala Devendrasinh Jhala 2Lavanya V. Uppala Lavanya V. Uppala 3Aaren Vedangi Aaren Vedangi 4Nazia Saiyed Nazia Saiyed 5Sushma Shah Sushma Shah 6Maulikkumar P. Patel Maulikkumar P. Patel 2Rakesh Rawal Rakesh Rawal 2Tommaso Mazza Tommaso Mazza 7Gregor Jemec Gregor Jemec 8Gianluigi Mazzoccoli Gianluigi Mazzoccoli 7Giovanni Damiani Giovanni Damiani 9*
  • 1 University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 2 Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • 3 Peter Kiewit Institute, University of Nebraska System, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
  • 4 KIMS Hospitals, Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
  • 5 Beaumont Health, Royal Oak, Michigan, United States
  • 6 National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • 7 IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, San Giovanni Rotondo, Apulia, Italy
  • 8 Zealand University Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Roskilde, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark
  • 9 Italian Center of Precision Medicine and Chronic Inflammation, University of Milan, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects hair follicles in areas with apocrine sweat glands, such as the underarms, groin, and buttocks. The pathogenesis of HS is not fully understood, but considering the key role played by the biological clock in the control of immune/inflammatory processes the derangement of circadian and ultradian pathways could be hypothesized.Methods. We analyzed genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in peripheral blood from 24 HS cases and 24 controls using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array (Illumina), followed by bioinformatics and statistical analyses.Results. We found that several circadian and ultradian genes were differentially methylated in HS patients, predominantly exhibiting hypomethylation. These genes were enriched in pathways such as MAPK and WNT cascades, acute phase response, cytokine release, inflammation, innate immune response, xenobiotic detoxification, and oxidative stress response.Altered DNA methylation patterns of genes related to circadian and ultradian pathways could contribute to immune system derangement and inflammatory processes chronicization in addition to other comorbidities hallmarking HS onset and progression, at the same time representing possible druggable targets.

    Keywords: epigenetics, Hidradenitis Suppurativa, biological clock, circadian, ultradian, rhythmicity, Chronic skin disorders

    Received: 03 Aug 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Radhakrishna, Ratnamala, Jhala, Uppala, Vedangi, Saiyed, Shah, Patel, Rawal, Mazza, Jemec, Mazzoccoli and Damiani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Giovanni Damiani, Italian Center of Precision Medicine and Chronic Inflammation, University of Milan, Milan, 20122, Lombardy, Italy

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