Systems approaches to human autoimmune diseases

Abstract

Systemic autoimmune diseases result from interactions between genes and environmental triggers that lead to dysregulation of both innate and adaptive immunity. Systems biology approaches enable the global characterization of complex systems at the DNA, RNA and protein levels. Recent technological breakthroughs such as deep sequencing or high-throughput proteomics are revealing novel inflammatory pathways involved in autoimmunity. Herein, we review recent developments, challenges and promising avenues in the use of systems approaches to understand human systemic autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases.

Figure 1. Genes with risk-associated loci identified by GWAS in 6 autoimmune diseases

Network displaying odd ratios of autoimmune disease occurence given single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in specific genes. The major hubs represent 6 autoimmune diseases (IBD: Inflammatory Bowel Disease; MS: Multiple Sclerosis; PSO: psoriasis; RA: Rheumatoid Arthritis; SLE: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus; T1D: Type I Diabetes). Each associated gene is represented by a blue dot of diameter proportional to the odds ratio (OR). The data presented herein is publicly available at http://www.genome.gov/gwastudies/index.cfm?pageid=26525384 - searchForm. Risk bearing loci without associated OR and with a p > 5×10⁻⁸ were filtered out.