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Effect Of High Expression Of Irf5 On B Cell Activation After Antigen Stimulation, Kalarelyn Eberting, Brian Poole

Journal of Undergraduate Research

While autoimmune diseases are very prevalent in the United States, little is understood about the cause of autoimmunity, making it difficult to take preventative measures and develop treatments. Previous studies have determined that a common genetic risk factor across many autoimmune diseases leads to B cell overexpression of the transcription factor IRF5 (1,2,4). Researchers have also discovered that high IRF5 levels are strongly associated with autoantibody production, suggesting that IRF5 may play a role in actually causing autoimmunity. At this point, however, it is unclear how IRF5 promotes the production of autoantibodies.