Research by Sofia Papanikolaou at the Nikolaou lab, uncovers a new role of the genome organizer SMC1A in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) exhibits one of the strongest sex biases among autoimmune diseases, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying this predisposition remain incompletely understood. In this study, a collaboration between the Nikolaou lab at BSRC “Alexander Fleming” and the lab of George Bertsias at the University of Crete, the researchers identify the X-linked cohesin subunit SMC1A as a sex-biased chromatin regulator in lupus monocytes. Through integrated transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses, the authors demonstrate that SMC1A is expressed at higher levels in female patients and undergoes inflammation-dependent redistribution to active enhancers of immune and inflammatory genes.
These findings support a novel mechanistic role for cohesin-mediated genome organization in shaping sex-biased immune responses in SLE and provide insight into how genome architecture may contribute to the female predominance of autoimmune disease.
Despoina Kosmara, Sofia Papanikolaou, Chrysoula Stathopoulou, Dionysios Papamatheakis, Giannis Vatsellas, Arianna Cimmarrusti, Aggelos Banos, Prodromos Sidiropoulos, Matthieu D. Lavigne, Panayotis Verginis, Dimitrios Boumpas, Charalampos Spilianakis, Dimitris Konstantopoulos, Christoforos Nikolaou & George Bertsias. The sex-biased chromatin modifier SMC1A promotes autoimmunity by shaping inflammatory pathways in patients with SLE. Nature Communications (2025).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65309-7