日本大阪大学Shimon Sakaguchi团队近日取得一项新成果。他们的近期工作发现，调节性T细胞特异性表观基因组区域变异是常见自身免疫疾病易感性的关键决定因素。这一研究成果于2020年5月1日在线发表在《免疫》上。

Title: Regulatory T Cell-Specific Epigenomic Region Variants Are a Key Determinant of Susceptibility to Common Autoimmune Diseases

Author: Naganari Ohkura, Yoshiaki Yasumizu, Yohko Kitagawa, Atsushi Tanaka, Yamami Nakamura, Daisuke Motooka, Shota Nakamura, Yukinori Okada, Shimon Sakaguchi

Issue&Volume: 2020-05-01

Abstract: The contribution of FOXP3-expressing naturally occurring regulatory T (Treg) cells to common polygenic autoimmune diseases remains ambiguous. Here, we characterizedgenome-wide epigenetic profiles (CpG methylation and histone modifications) of humanTreg and conventional T (Tconv) cells in naive and activated states. We found thatsingle-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with common autoimmune diseaseswere predominantly enriched in CpG demethylated regions (DRs) specifically presentin naive Treg cells but much less enriched in activation-induced DRs common in Tconvand Treg cells. Naive Treg cell-specific DRs were largely included in Treg cell-specificsuper-enhancers and closely associated with transcription and other epigenetic changesin naive and effector Treg cells. Thus, naive Treg cell-specific CpG hypomethylationhad a key role in controlling Treg cell-specific gene transcription and epigeneticmodification. The results suggest possible contribution of altered function or developmentof natural Treg cells to the susceptibility to common autoimmune diseases.

DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.006

Source: https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(20)30164-3