Xist ribonucleoproteins promote female sex-biased autoimmunity

• Published in: Cell Vol. 187; no. 3; p. 733
• Main Authors: Dou, Diana R, Zhao, Yanding, Belk, Julia A, Zhao, Yang, Casey, Kerriann M, Chen, Derek C, Li, Rui, Yu, Bingfei, Srinivasan, Suhas, Abe, Brian T, Kraft, Katerina, Hellström, Ceke, Sjöberg, Ronald, Chang, Sarah, Feng, Allan, Goldman, Daniel W, Shah, Ami A, Petri, Michelle, Chung, Lorinda S, Fiorentino, David F, Lundberg, Emma K, Wutz, Anton, Utz, Paul J, Chang, Howard Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-02-2024
• Subjects: Animals; Autoantibodies - genetics; Autoimmune Diseases - genetics; Autoimmunity - genetics; Female; Humans; Male; Mice; Ribonucleoproteins - genetics; Ribonucleoproteins - metabolism; RNA, Long Noncoding - genetics; RNA, Long Noncoding - metabolism; Sex Characteristics; X Chromosome - genetics; X Chromosome - metabolism; X Chromosome Inactivation; long non-coding RNA; autoantibody; XIST; autoimmunity; RNA binding protein
• ISSN: 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.037

Autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect females more than males. The XX sex chromosome complement is strongly associated with susceptibility to autoimmunity. Xist long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is expressed only in females to randomly inactivate one of the two X chromosomes to achieve gene dosage compensation. Here, we show that the Xist ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex comprising numerous autoantigenic components is an important driver of sex-biased autoimmunity. Inducible transgenic expression of a non-silencing form of Xist in male mice introduced Xist RNP complexes and sufficed to produce autoantibodies. Male SJL/J mice expressing transgenic Xist developed more severe multi-organ pathology in a pristane-induced lupus model than wild-type males. Xist expression in males reprogrammed T and B cell populations and chromatin states to more resemble wild-type females. Human patients with autoimmune diseases displayed significant autoantibodies to multiple components of XIST RNP. Thus, a sex-specific lncRNA scaffolds ubiquitous RNP components to drive sex-biased immunity.