Wahren-Herlenius Group
The majority of autoimmune diseases are more common in women than in men, but the molecular basis for this sex-bias remains poorly understood. The Wahren-Herlenius groups projects focus on the autoimmune exocrinopathy Sjögren's syndrome which has among the highest observed female-to-male ratios, to dissect the genetic and hormonal contribution to sex-dependent immune regulation at single cell resolution and how these differences may lead to autoimmune disease.
About the research group
Marie Wahren-Herlenius leads the Wahren-Herlenius Group. Marie did part of her PhD training and a postdoctoral period at the Broegelmann Research Laboratory. She was appointed professor II, University of Bergen in 2020. She is also a professor at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and Department Head, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.
Women are at much higher risk of developing autoimmune disease, with the most extreme numbers in systemic disorders such as SLE and Sjögren’s syndrome for which more than nine out of ten patients are women. There is a clear genetic contribution to these diseases and genome-wide studies have identified polymorphisms associated with Sjögren’s syndrome. Interestingly, many of the associated genetic variants lead to differential gene regulation. However, the influence of sex, or why these immune-pathways and related genes would become dysregulated specifically in women is not clear.
The groups projects build on the observation that genetic polymorphisms associated with Sjögren's syndrome dramatically increase the likelihood for the disease to develop in women carrying these genetic traits compared to men. The groups aim to identify sex-influenced eQTLs, and dissect the genetic and hormonal contribution to sex-dependent immune regulation at single cell resolution and how these differences may lead to autoimmune disease.
Publications
Selected publications
Sjöstrand M, Ambrosi A, Sullivan J, Malin S, Kuchroo V, Espinosa A, Wahren-Herlenius M. J Immunol 2013, 191:3753-3763.
Rusakiewicz S, Nocturne G, Lazure T, Semeraro M, Flament C, Caillat-Zucman S, Sène D, Delahaye N, Vivier E, Chaba K, Poirier-Colame V, Nordmark G, Eloranta ML, Eriksson P, Theander E, Forsblad-d'Elia H, Omdal R, Wahren-Herlenius M, Jonsson R, Rönnblom L, Nititham J, Taylor KE, Lessard CJ, Sivils KL, Gottenberg JE, Criswell LA, Miceli-Richard C, Zitvogel L and Mariette X. Sci Transl Med 2013, 5:195ra96.
Lessard CJ, He Li, ´Adrianto I, Ice J, Rasmussen A, Grundahl K, Kelly J, Dozmorov M, Miceli-Richard C, Bowman S, Lester S, Eriksson P, Eloranta M, Brun J, Gøransson L, Harboe E, Guthridge J, Kaufman K, Kvarnström M, Cunninghame Graham G, Grandits M, Nazmul-Hossain A, Patel K, Adler A, Maier-Moore J, Farris A, Brennan M, Lessard J, Chodosh J, Gopalakrishnan R, Hefner K, Houston G, Huang A, Hughes P, Lewis D, Radfar L, Rohrer M, Stone D, Wren J, Vyse T, Gaffney P, James J, Omdal R, Wahren-Herlenius M, Illei G, Witte T, Jonsson R, Rischmueller M, Rönnblom L, Nordmark G, Ng W for UK primary Sjögren's syndrome registry, Mariette X, Anaya J, Rhodus N, Segal B, Scofield H, Montgomery C, Harley J and Moser Sivils K. Identification of multiple genetic variants associated with Sjögren’s syndrome involved in both the innate and adaptive immune responses. Nature Genetics 2013, 45:1284-1292.
Ambrosi A and Wahren-Herlenius M. . Curr Opin Rheumatol 2015, 27:468-75.
Brauner S, Folkersen L, Kvarnström M, Meisgen S, Petersen S, Franzén-Malmros M, Mofors J, Brokstad KA, Klareskog L, Jonsson R, Westerberg L, Trollmo C, Malmström V, Ambrosi A, Kuchroo VK, Nordmark G, Wahren-Herlenius M. H1N1 vaccination in Sjögren's syndrome triggers polyclonal B cell activation and promotes autoantibody production. Ann Rheum Dis 2017, 76:1755-1763.
Brauner S, Jiang X, Thorlacius GE, Lundberg AM, Östberg T, Yan ZQ, Kuchroo VK, Hansson GK, Wahren-Herlenius M. . Cardiovasc Res 2018, 114:158-167.
Aqrawi LA, Mentlein L, Meneghel L, Björk A, Thorlacius GE, Ivanchenko M, RamÃrez Sepúlveda JI, Skarstein K, Kvarnström M, Brauner S, Espinosa A, Wahren-Herlenius M. . Ann Rheum Dis 2018, 77:1840-1842.
Kyriakidis N, Kockum I, Julkunen H, Hoxha A, Salomonsson S, Meneghel L, Ebbing C, The Swedish Congenital Heart Block Study Group, Dilthey A, Eronen M, De Carolis S, Kiserud T, Ruffatti A, Kere J, Meisgen S, Wahren-Herlenius M. . Ann Rheum Dis 2018, 77:1381-1382.
Mofors J, Arkema EV, Björk A, Westermark L, Kvarnström M, Forsblad-d’Elia H, Magnusson Bucher S, Eriksson P, Mandl T, Nordmark G, Wahren-Herlenius M. . J Intern Med 2019, 285:670-680.
Mofors J, Eliasson H, Ambrosi A, Salomonsson S, Skog Andreasson A, Fored M, Ekbom A, Bergman G, Soncesson SE, Wahren-Herlenius M. . Ann Rheum Dis 2019, 78:696-703.
Björk A, Thorlacius GE, Mofors J, Richardsdotter Andersson E, Ivanchenko M, Tingström J, James T, Brokstad KA, Cox RJ, Jonsson R, Kvarnström M, Wahren-Herlenius M. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2020, 59:1651-1661.
Mofors J, Björk A, Smedby KE, Kvarnström, M, Forsblad-d’Elia H, Magnusson Bucher S, Eriksson P, Mandl T, Baecklund E, Nordmark G, Wahren-Herlenius M. . Ann Rheum Dis 2020, 79:307-308.
Sonesson SE and Wahren-Herlenius M. . Lancet Rheumatology, 2020, 2:e203-204.
Sonesson SE and Wahren-Herlenius M. Mortality in congenital heart block. Lancet Rheumatology 2020, 2(10):e588-599.
Björk A, Mofors J, Wahren-Herlenius M. . J Intern Med 2020, 287:475-492.
Wahren-Herlenius M, Rönnblom L. Learning from similarities between vaccine responses and SLE. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2020, 16:355-356.
Gao Y, Liu R, He C, Basile J, Vesterlund M, Wahren-Herlenius M, Espinoza A, Hokka-Zakrisson C, Zadjali F, Yoshimura A, Karlsson M, Carow B, Rottenberg ME. . Front Immunol 2021, 12:642173.
Thorlacius GE, Hultin-Rosenberg L, Sandling JK, Bianchi M, Imgenberg-Kreuz J, Pucholt P, Theander E, Kvarnström M, Forsblad-d'Elia H, Bucher SM, Norheim KB, Johnsen SJA, Hammenfors D, Skarstein K, Jonsson MV, Baecklund E, Aqrawi LA, Jensen JL, Palm Ø, Morris AP; DISSECT consortium; the ImmunoArray consortium, Meadows JRS, Rantapää-Dahlqvist S, Mandl T, Eriksson P, Lind L, Omdal R, Jonsson R, Lindblad-Toh K, Rönnblom L, Wahren-Herlenius M, Nordmark G. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021, 60:837-848.
Ivanchenko M, Thorlacius GE, Hedlund M, Ottosson V, Meneghel L, Björkander S, Ossoinak A, Tingström J, Bremme K, Sverremark-Ekström E, Gemzell-Danielsson K, Sonesson SE, Chemin K, Wahren-Herlenius M. .
Ann Rheum Dis 2021, 80:194-202.
People
Group manager
Marie Wahren Herlenius Professor
Contact
For inquiries about our research, or inquiries about joining our group contact Marie Wahren-Herlenius.
- Emails
- marie.wahren@ki.se