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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Dec 11.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Neurobiol. 2008 Sep 26;86(4):368–378. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.09.012

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

A Proposed epigenetic mechanism of PAD2 up-regulation in MS oligodendrocytes. The upstream regulatory region of the PAD2 gene contains a CpG island. In normal individuals the methylation and expression of PAD2 is under homeostatic regulation. However in MS white matter the cytosines in CG dinucleotides in the PAD2 promoter become demethylated via increased DNA demethylase activity. The result of this CpG demethylation might explain why there is hypercitrullination of arginine rich protein substrates like myelin basic protein. Myelin basic protein once citrullinated in the normal appearing white matter loses its interactions with myelin membranes, which fragment thereby leading to autoimmune progression and MS.