Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
IFI44L promoter hypomethylation as an epigenetic biomarker of systemic lupus erythematosus: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors' conclusion
IFI44L promoter hypomethylation represents a significant and reproducible epigenetic signature of SLE across populations and study designs. Despite variability in methylation magnitude, its diagnostic performance remains consistent, supporting IFI44L methylation as a promising biomarker for SLE.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with SLE and controls across diverse populations16 study datasets
- Comparison
- IFI44L promoter methylation in SLE vs controls
- Outcome
- Diagnostic performance of IFI44L promoter methylation: pooled AUC
Methodological detailsrandom-effects (DerSimonian-Laird), Hanley-McNeil variance approximation
- Random-effects (DerSimonian-Laird)
- Hanley-McNeil variance approximation
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Pooled AUC of IFI44L promoter hypomethylation for SLE
Pooled AUC (95% CI 0.64-0.84); moderate overall diagnostic performance
0.74
Further pooled results
Direction and consistency of IFI44L promoter methylation
- Hypomethylation consistently observed across ethnic groups and biological sample types
- Heterogeneity in magnitude across ethnic groups, study periods and methylation profiling methods; differences by sample type less pronounced, not statistically significant
- Hypomethylation predominated over hypermethylation among studies reporting both directions
- AUC values varied across studies but largely independent of sample size and magnitude of hypomethylation
Original publication
IFI44L promoter hypomethylation as an epigenetic biomarker of systemic lupus erythematosus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lupus. Published 20 August 2026. doi:10.
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