Negative correlation between DNA methylation in Th2 cytokine genes (IL4,
IL5, and IL13) and NFKB1 in
naïve CD4+ T cells and disease activity in lupus patients (red)
(r= −0.74, −0.74, −0.83, and −0.94; P=
0.0095, 0.0092, 0.0017, and 1.36E-05, respectively). Reduced methylation levels with
disease flares in these genes precede active transcription as evidenced by lack of
correlation between mRNA levels measured using RNAseq with disease activity (blue)
(P= 0.15, 0.81, 0.63, and 0.78, respectively).