Description
Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is an inflammatory disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract, skeleton, and eyes. HLA-B27 is a major risk gene for SpA, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. One hypothesis is that HLA-B27 promotes SpA through misfolding-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress that in turn upregulates IL-23 expression via the transcription factor CHOP. In this study, the researchers knocked out CHOP expression in an animal model of HLA-B27-associated SpA. Despite reduced IL-23 production, gut inflammation did not improve, indicating that the gut disease did not occur as a result of ER stress-induced IL-23 production.
What is exciting about this article?
This work demonstrates that HLA-B27-induced ER stress does not cause gut disease in SpA, which is an important advancement in the field to turn researchers’ attention to other pathways that may link HLA-B27 and SpA pathogenesis
Grant support
ZIA AR041184
Research Areas:
CORE Facilities:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIHʼs National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.