Journal article

Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis identifies hypomethylated genes regulated by FOXP3 in human regulatory T cells

Y Zhang, J Maksimovic, G Naselli, J Qian, M Chopin, ME Blewitt, A Oshlack, LC Harrison

Blood | Published : 2013

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (Treg) prevent the emergence of autoimmune disease. Prototypic natural Treg (nTreg) can be reliably identified by demethylation at the Forkhead-box P3 (FOXP3) locus. To explore the methylation landscape of nTreg, we analyzed genomewide methylation in human naive nTreg (rTreg) and conventional naive CD41 T cells (Naive). We detected 2315 differentially methylated cytosine-guanosine dinucleotides (CpGs) between these 2 cell types, many of which clustered into 127 regions of differential methylation (RDMs). Activation changed the methylation status of 466 CpGs and 18 RDMs in Naive but did not alter DNA methylation in rTreg. Gene-set testing of the 127 RDMs showed that promote..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (program grant 305500 to L.C.H.) and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Genomics Funding (to Y.Z.).