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Aspirin meets cGAS

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Sensing of cytosolic DNA by cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) is central to the pathogenesis of a number of autoinflammatory syndromes and possibly some autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Activation of cGAS signalling requires its deacetylation, so might aspirin have therapeutic potential to treat SLE by acetylating cGAS?

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Fig. 1: Aspirin interference in cGAS signalling.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks J. An and Y. Lin for helpful discussions. The author also notes that his work is supported by grants from the Lupus Research Alliance.

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Correspondence to Keith B. Elkon.

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The author declares that he is a co-founder of Amdax Therapeutics, and a consultant for BellBrook Labs.

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Elkon, K.B. Aspirin meets cGAS. Nat Rev Rheumatol 15, 254–255 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-019-0205-y

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