Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease in which type I interferons (IFN) play a key role. The IFN response can be triggered when oxidized DNA engages the cytosolic DNA sensing platform cGAS-STING, but the repair mechanisms that modulate this process and govern disease progression are unclear. To gain insight into this biology, we interrogated the role of oxyguanine glycosylase 1 (OGG1), which repairs oxidized guanine 8-Oxo-2 ′-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG), in the pristane-induced mouse model of SLE. Ogg1 −/− mice showed increased influx of Ly6C hi monocytes into the peritoneal cavity and enhanced IFN-driven gene expression in response to short-term exposure to pristane. Loss of Ogg1 was associated with increased auto-antibodies (anti-dsDNA and anti-RNP), higher total IgG, and expression of interferon stimulated genes (ISG) to longer exposure to pristane, accompanied by aggravated skin pathology such as hair loss, thicker epidermis, and increased deposition of IgG in skin lesions. Supporting a role for type I IFNs in this model, skin lesions of Ogg1 −/− mice had significantly higher expression of type I IFN genes (Isg15, Irf9, and Ifnb). In keeping with loss of Ogg1 resulting in dysregulated IFN responses, enhanced basal and cGAMP-dependent Ifnb expression was observed in BMDMs from Ogg1 −/− mice. Use of the STING inhibitor, H151, reduced both basal and cGAMP-driven increases, indicating that OGG1 regulates Ifnb expression through the cGAS-STING pathway. Finally, in support for a role for OGG1 in the pathology of cutaneous disease, reduced OGG1 expression in monocytes associated with skin involvement in SLE patients and the expression of OGG1 was significantly lower in lesional skin compared with non-lesional skin in patients with Discoid Lupus. Taken together, these data support an important role for OGG1 in protecting against IFN production and SLE skin disease.

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Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH), although rare, is a life-threatening complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Little is known about the pathophysiology of DAH in humans, although increasingly neutrophils, NETosis and inflammatory monocytes have been shown to play an important role in the pristane-induced model of SLE which develops lung hemorrhage and recapitulates many of the pathologic features of human DAH. Using this experimental model, we asked whether endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress played a role in driving the pathology of pulmonary hemorrhage and what role infiltrating neutrophils had in this process. Analysis of lung tissue from pristane-treated mice showed genes associated with ER stress and NETosis were increased in a time-dependent manner and reflected the timing of CD11b+Ly6G+ neutrophil accumulation in the lung. Using precision cut lung slices from untreated mice we observed that neutrophils isolated from the peritoneal cavity of pristane-treated mice could directly induce the expression of genes associated with ER stress, namely Chop and Bip. Mice which had myeloid-specific deletion of PAD4 were generated and treated with pristane to assess the involvement of PAD4 and PAD4-dependent NET formation in pristane-induced lung inflammation. Specific deletion of PAD4 in myeloid cells resulted in decreased expression of ER stress genes in the pristane model, with accompanying reduction in IFN-driven genes and pathology. Lastly, coculture experiments of human neutrophils and human lung epithelial cell line (BEAS-2b) showed neutrophils from SLE patients induced significantly more ER stress and interferon-stimulated genes in epithelial cells compared to healthy control neutrophils. These results support a pathogenic role of neutrophils and NETs in lung injury during pristane-induced DAH through the induction of ER stress response and suggest that overactivation of neutrophils in SLE and NETosis may underlie development of DAH.

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