Noncoding Variants as Genetic Contributors to Autoimmune Disease Pathogenesis

Understanding the functions of disease-associated noncoding variants is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms driving diseases with a genetic cause and for identifying therapeutic targets. Combined computational and experimental analyses have demonstrated that IRF5 is hyperactivated by a pathogenic allele of TNPO3 through long-distance chromatin looping. This finding identifies a molecular mechanism contributing to the polygenic autoimmune diseases of systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis.