Wahren-Herlenius 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.

Main content
The majority of autoimmune diseases are more common in women than in men, but the molecular basis for this sex-bias remains poorly understood. Marie鈥檚 projects focus on the autoimmune exocrinopathy Sj枚gren'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.
Women are at much higher risk of developing autoimmune disease, with the most extreme numbers in systemic disorders such as SLE and Sj枚gren鈥檚 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听associated with Sj枚gren鈥檚 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.
In their projects, they build on the observation that genetic polymorphisms associated with Sj枚gren's syndrome听that we identify dramatically increase the likelihood for the disease to develop in women carrying these genetic traits compared to men. Consequently, the context 鈥渇emale sex鈥 may lead to a different functional impact of the genetic polymorphisms associated with systemic autoimmunity than the context 鈥渕ale sex鈥.听Their projects aim to identify sex-influenced eQTLs, and听dissect the genetic and hormonal contribution to sex-dependent immune regulation at single cell resolution and how these differences may lead to autoimmune disease.
More information about our research can be found here听
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Selected publications
Sj枚strand M, Ambrosi A, Sullivan J, Malin S, Kuchroo V, Espinosa A,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听听J Immunol听2013, 191:3753-3763.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
Rusakiewicz S, Nocturne G, Lazure T, Semeraro M, Flament C, Caillat-Zucman S, S猫ne D, Delahaye N, Vivier E, Chaba K, Poirier-Colame V, Nordmark G, Eloranta ML, Eriksson P, Theander E, Forsblad-d'Elia H, Omdal R,听Wahren-Herlenius听M, Jonsson R, R枚nnblom L, Nititham J, Taylor KE, Lessard CJ, Sivils KL, Gottenberg JE, Criswell LA, Miceli-Richard C, Zitvogel L and Mariette X.听听Sci Transl Med听2013, 5:195ra96.
Lessard CJ, He Li, 麓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, G酶ransson L, Harboe E, Guthridge J, Kaufman K, Kvarnstr枚m 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,听Wahren-Herlenius M, Illei G, Witte T, Jonsson R, Rischmueller M, R枚nnblom L, Nordmark G, Ng W for UK primary Sj枚gren's syndrome registry, Mariette X, Anaya J, Rhodus N, Segal B, Scofield H, Montgomery C, Harley J and Moser Sivils K.听Identification of multiple genetic variants associated with Sj枚gren鈥檚 syndrome involved in both the innate and adaptive immune responses.听Nature Genetics听2013, 45:1284-1292.
Ambrosi A and听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Curr Opin Rheumatol听2015, 27:468-75.
Brauner听S, Folkersen听L, Kvarnstr枚m听M, Meisgen听S, Petersen听S, Franz茅n-Malmros听M, Mofors J, Brokstad听KA, Klareskog听L, Jonsson听R, Westerberg听L, Trollmo听C, Malmstr枚m听V, Ambrosi听A, Kuchroo听VK, Nordmark G,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听H1N1 vaccination in Sj枚gren's syndrome triggers polyclonal B cell activation and promotes autoantibody production.听Ann Rheum Dis听2017, 76:1755-1763.
Brauner S, Jiang听X, Thorlacius听GE, Lundberg听AM, 脰stberg听T, Yan听ZQ, Kuchroo听VK, Hansson听GK,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Cardiovasc Res听2018, 114:158-167.
Aqrawi LA, Mentlein L, Meneghel L, Bj枚rk A, Thorlacius GE, Ivanchenko M, Ram铆rez Sep煤lveda JI, Skarstein K, Kvarnstr枚m M, Brauner S, Espinosa A,听Wahren-Herlenius听M.听.听Ann Rheum Dis听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,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Ann Rheum Dis听2018,听77:1381-1382.听
Mofors J, Arkema EV, Bj枚rk A, Westermark L, Kvarnstr枚m M, Forsblad-d鈥橢lia H, Magnusson Bucher S, Eriksson P, Mandl T, Nordmark G,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听J Intern Med听2019, 285:670-680.
Mofors J, Eliasson H, Ambrosi A, Salomonsson S, Skog Andreasson A, Fored M, Ekbom A, Bergman G, Soncesson SE,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Ann Rheum Dis听2019,听78:696-703.
Bj枚rk A, Thorlacius GE, Mofors J, Richardsdotter Andersson E, Ivanchenko M, Tingstr枚m J, James T, Brokstad KA, Cox RJ, Jonsson R, Kvarnstr枚m M,听Wahren-Herlenius听M.听听Rheumatology听(Oxford) 2020, 59:1651-1661.
Mofors J, Bj枚rk A, Smedby KE, Kvarnstr枚m, M, Forsblad-d鈥橢lia H, Magnusson Bucher S, Eriksson P, Mandl T, Baecklund E, Nordmark G,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Ann Rheum Dis听2020, 79:307-308.
Sonesson SE and听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听Lancet Rheumatology, 2020, 2:e203-204.
Sonesson SE and听Wahren-Herlenius M.听Mortality in congenital heart block.听Lancet Rheumatology听2020, 2(10):e588-599.听听听听听听听
Bj枚rk A, Mofors J,听Wahren-Herlenius M.听.听J Intern Med听2020, 287:475-492.
Wahren-Herlenius M, R枚nnblom L.听Learning from similarities between vaccine responses and SLE.听Nat Rev Rheumatol听2020, 16:355-356.
Gao Y, Liu R, He C, Basile J, Vesterlund M,听Wahren-Herlenius M, Espinoza A, Hokka-Zakrisson C, Zadjali F, Yoshimura A,听Karlsson M, Carow B, Rottenberg ME.听.听Front Immunol听2021, 12:642173.
Thorlacius GE, Hultin-Rosenberg L, Sandling JK, Bianchi M, Imgenberg-Kreuz J, Pucholt P, Theander E, Kvarnstr枚m M, Forsblad-d'Elia H, Bucher SM, Norheim KB, Johnsen SJA, Hammenfors D, Skarstein K, Jonsson MV, Baecklund E, Aqrawi LA, Jensen JL, Palm 脴, Morris AP; DISSECT consortium; the ImmunoArray consortium, Meadows JRS, Rantap盲盲-Dahlqvist S, Mandl T, Eriksson P, Lind L, Omdal R, Jonsson R, Lindblad-Toh K, R枚nnblom L,听Wahren-Herlenius M, Nordmark G.听听Rheumatology (Oxford)听2021, 60:837-848.
Ivanchenko M, Thorlacius GE, Hedlund M, Ottosson听V, Meneghel L, Bj枚rkander S, Ossoinak A, Tingstr枚m J,听Bremme K,听Sverremark-Ekstr枚m E, Gemzell-Danielsson K, Sonesson SE, Chemin K,听Wahren-Herlenius听M.听.
Ann Rheum Dis听2021,听80:194-202.