Abstract
The generation of memory is a cardinal feature of the adaptive immune response, involving different factors in a complex process of cellular differentiation. This process is essential for protecting the second encounter with pathogens and is the mechanism by which vaccines work. Epigenetic changes play important roles in the regulation of cell differentiation events. There are three types of epigenetic regulation: DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA expression. One of these epigenetic changes, DNA methylation, occurs in cytosine residues, mainly in CpG dinucleotides. This brief review aimed to analyse the literature to verify the involvement of DNA methylation during memory T and B cell development. Several studies have highlighted the importance of the DNA methyltransferases, enzymes that catalyse the methylation of DNA, during memory differentiation, maintenance, and function. The methylation profile within different subsets of naïve activated and memory cells could be an interesting tool to help monitor immune memory response.
Highlights
Memory is a hallmark of adaptive immunity mediated by lymphocytes
We provide a comprehensive description of DNA methylation, since it is one of the most studied epigenetic modifications, and its role in memory immune response based on a review of the literature
This concept was demonstrated in mice, showing that the granzyme b (Gzmb) gene is unmethylated in Th1 effector cells and remains unmethylated in Th1 memory cells
Summary
Memory is a hallmark of adaptive immunity mediated by lymphocytes. The immune memory feature is the capacity of B and T cells to respond more effectively after a second encounter with the antigen [1,2]. There are three primary types of epigenetic regulation: DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs expression, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The chromatin marks on histone H3, H3K27ac, H3K4me, and H3K4m3, involved with gene expression, were investigated during memory CD4 development. Genes that are induced in memory CD4 T cells but not naïve cells presented H3K4m3 histone modification [7]. Several studies highlighted the importance of histone modification during CD8 T cell memory differentiation [8,9,10,11]. We provide a comprehensive description of DNA methylation, since it is one of the most studied epigenetic modifications, and its role in memory immune response based on a review of the literature
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