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Quantitative changes in T cell DNA methylation occur during differentiation and ageing
Author(s) -
Golbus Joseph,
Palella Thomas D.,
Richardson Bruce C.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
european journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1521-4141
pISSN - 0014-2980
DOI - 10.1002/eji.1830200836
Subject(s) - dna methylation , biology , methylation , dna , cellular differentiation , gene , ageing , thymocyte , epigenetics , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , genetics , t cell , immune system
Abstract DNA methylation is one of the mechanisms involved in the regulation of developmentally relevant genes. Previous experiments demonstrated that T cells treated with DNA methylation inhibitors reacquire some of the phenotypic and functional characteristics of thymocytes, suggesting that DNA methylation may be involved in regulating some of the changes in gene expression during thymic maturation. To further examine whether changes in DNA methylation occur during T cell differentiation, total DNA deoxymethylcytosine content was compared in human thymocyte subsets and mature T cells. A significant increase in deoxymethylcytosine was found at the end of T cell differentiation which then decreased with age. These results suggest that increased DNA methylation may serve to silence genes following T cell differentiation. The results also raise the possibility that age‐related decreases in T cell DNA methylation may contribute to changes in T cell function occurring in the elderly.