Fig. 10.

Model of an atypical IL-6-Stat3-RFX1-IL-17A regulatory pathway in CD4⁺ T cells of SLE patients. IL-6 stimulation causes the phosphorylation of STAT3, which binds intron 7 of RFX1 to repress RFX1 gene transcription through increased DNA methylation and decreased histone acetylation. Decreased RFX1 leads to the loss of recruitment of DNMT1, HDAC1, and SUV39H1 to the promoter of IL17A gene, which decreases the DNA methylation and histone H3K9 tri-methylation and increases the histone acetylation, thereby inducing the activation of IL17A gene transcription