International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review Epigenetic Regulations of AhR in the Aspect of Immunomodulation Anna Wajda 1,* , Joanna Łapczuk-Roma ´nska 2 and Agnieszka Paradowska-Gorycka 1 1 Department of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, 02-637 Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] 2 Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Pomeranian Medical University, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 31 July 2020; Accepted: 28 August 2020; Published: 3 September 2020 Abstract: Environmental factors contribute to autoimmune disease manifestation, and as regarded today, AhR has become an important factor in studies of immunomodulation. Besides immunological aspects, AhR also plays a role in pharmacological, toxicological and many other physiological processes such as adaptive metabolism. In recent years, epigenetic mechanisms have provided new insight into gene regulation and reveal a new contribution to autoimmune disease pathogenesis. DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin alterations, microRNA and consequently non-genetic changes in phenotypes connect with environmental factors. Increasing data reveals AhR cross-roads with the most significant in immunology pathways. Although study on epigenetic modulations in autoimmune diseases is still not well understood, therefore future research will help us understand their pathophysiology and help to find new therapeutic strategies. Present literature review