Adductome-based identification of lysine monomethylation as a key post-translational protein modification in autoimmune diseases

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins are efficient biological mechanisms for expanding the genetic code and for regulating cellular physiology. However, there have been no systematic approaches to profile all the PTMs critical for autoreactive neoantigen production or the etiology and pathology of autoimmune diseases. In the present study, to gain insight into protein PTMs associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we applied a mass spectrometry-based method for the comprehensive analysis of modified amino acids ("adductome"). By comprehensively measuring modified lysines and histidines in mouse tissue homogenates from the control and SLE-prone MRL-lpr mice, we observed a significant decrease in lysine monomethylation as a unique alteration in the PTMs of SLE mice splenocytes. One of the targets for the downregulation of lysine monomethylation was identified as histone H3. Downregulation of histone H3 lysine 4 monomethylation (H3K4me1) was also observed in the B cells from SLE mice. Inhibition of the H3K4me1 demethylase LSD1 suppressed the differentiation of naive B cells into antibody-secreting cells. In addition, the reduction of H3K4me1 in SLE mice resulted in the downregulation of PAX5, a transcription factor indispensable for the maturation of B cells, leading to the activation of antibody-secreting cells. The results of this study suggest that dysregulation of histone lysine monomethylation may play a significant role in the pathophysiology of SLE and therefore may be a target for epigenetic-based lupus treatment.