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* Laboratory of Immunology and
Flow Cytometry Unit, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224
To understand the mechanism regulating the effector function of memory CD8 T cells, we examined expression and chromatin state of a key transcription factor (eomesodermin, EOMES) and two of its targets: perforin (PRF1) and granzyme B (GZMB). Accessible chromatin associated histone 3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9Ac) was found significantly higher at the proximal promoter and the first exon region of all three genes in memory CD8 T cells than in naive CD8 T cells. Correspondingly, EOMES and PRF1 were constitutively higher expressed in memory CD8 T cells than in naive CD8 T cells at resting and activated states. In contrast, higher expression of GZMB was induced in memory CD8 T cells than in naive CD8 T cells only after activation. Regardless of their constitutive or inducible expression, decreased H3K9Ac levels after treatment with a histone acetyltransferase inhibitor (Curcumin) led to decreased expression of all three genes in activated memory CD8 T cells. These findings suggest that H3K9Ac associated accessible chromatin state serves as a corner stone for the differentially high expression of these effector genes in memory CD8 T cells. Thus, epigenetic changes mediated via histone acetylation may provide a chromatin "memory" for the rapid and robust transcriptional response of memory CD8 T cells.
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1 This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging and National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Nan-ping Weng, 5600 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224. E-mail address: wengn{at}mail.nih.gov
3 Abbrevations used in this paper: HAT, histone acetyltransferase; PRF1, perforin 1; GZMB, granzyme B; HDAC, histone deacetylase; ChIP, chromatin immunoprecipitation.
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