Endogenous retroviruses promote aberrant T cell differentiation in systemic lupus erythematosus via the RIG-I pathway [SLE]

The dysregulated differentiation of T lymphocytes play an important role in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we screened and identified many overexpressed HERVs in CD4+ T cells from SLE patients by RNA-seq and found that some HERVs formed dsRNAs to induce the activation of the RIG-I signaling pathway. And our findings reveal the roles and mechanism of HERVs and RIG-I in regulating the aberrant differentiation of T cells in SLE patients.