Elevated expression of the Brn‐3a and Brn‐3b transcription factors in systemic lupus erythematosus correlates with antibodies to Brn‐3 and overexpression of Hsp90

Abstract

Expression of both Brn-3a and Brn-3b was found to be enhanced in SLE, and this correlated with enhanced levels of autoantibodies to these proteins and with the previously reported overexpression of Hsp90, which was shown to be a novel gene regulated by Brn-3a and Brn-3b. The overexpression of Brn-3a correlated with active disease, suggesting that it may play a role in the disease process via its targeting by the immune system and its ability to induce the expression of specific genes.