Conclusions
In summary, our study demonstrated that the ERAP1 is
significantly hypermethylated in AS patients, and the result is also
verified by the lower mRNA level of AS patients. Our findings suggested
that aberrant methylation of ERAP1 promoter may take part in the
pathogenesis of AS and can be considered as diagnostic tool and
therapeutic target of AS. The finding that NSAIDs use could alter the
methylation level indicated that the efficacy of NSAIDs on AS could be
through altering the methylation level of corresponding genes in some
extent.