Transcriptional Coactivator BOB1 (OBF1, OCA-B) in Autoimmune Diseases

Abstract: Autoimmune diseases, despite the significant work that has been carried out in biomedicine for several decades, continue to be largely incurable and poorly understood in terms of the molecular mechanisms of their occurrence and development. It is generally accepted that these diseases, whose main attributes are autoreactive B- and T-lymphocytes, are caused by a malfunction of the adaptive immune system. Extensive experimental data accumulated over the past few years indicate the key role of the transcriptional coactivator BOB1 in the emergence of autoreactive lymphocytes. It has been postulated that BOB1 affects transcription and the local epigenetic status of chromatin indirectly, namely, through selective interaction with DNA-binding POU-domain transcription factors, with OCT1 expressing in all cells, as well as OCT2, which is specific to B cells, stabilizing the binding of these OCT factors to DNA. The review provides the latest information on the pro-autoimmune activity of BOB1 and outlines the prospects for the application of this protein as a target in the development of pharmaceuticals aimed at treating a number of autoimmune diseases.