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Epigenetic profiling of human CD4+ memory T cells reveals their proliferative history and argues in favor of a progressive differentiation model driven by epigenetically controlled master regulators.

ABSTRACT: A key element of adaptive immunity is the development of long-lived memory cells, which protect against recurring infection by providing a highly enriched pool of antigen-specific cells ready to react to the pathogen. Different classes of memory T cells occur upon primary activation of naive T cells, however, their detailed differentiation pathway is not entirely clear. As part of the IHEC consortium, we generated genome-wide epigenetic maps of a number of CD4+ T cell memory (Tmem) stages including rare subsets such as terminally differentiated (TEMRA) and bone marrow-resident Tmem. We found that CD4+ T cells show progressive global DNA demethylation with differentiation into memory stages, which reflects their proliferative history and likely indicates their decline in differentiation and proliferation potential. Furthermore, transcriptomic profiling combined with co-regulation network analyses arranged different Tmem subsets into a successive differentiation pathway. In addition, we identified a number of epigenetically controlled candidate master regulators for Tmem formation, of which we functionally validated a new methylation-sensitive promoter for the known 'naive-keeper' transcription factor Foxp1. Our study highlights the power of epigenomic datasets in the elucidation of the cellular history but also of the functional potential of T cell populations including the identification of epigenetically controlled master regulators.

PROVIDER: EGAS00001001624 | EGA |

REPOSITORIES: EGA

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Project description:Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of diverse cellular processes, but their roles in the developing immune system are poorly understood. In this study, we analysed lncRNA expression during human B-cell development by array-based expression profiling of eleven distinct flow-sorted B-cell subsets, comprising pre-B1, pre-B2, immature, naive, memory, and plasma cells from bone marrow biopsies (n=7), and naive, centroblast, centrocyte, memory, and plasmablast cells from tonsil tissue samples (n=6), respectively. A remapping strategy was used to assign the array probes to 37630 gene-level probe sets, reflecting the most recent updates in genomic and transcriptomic databases, which enabled expression profiling of 19579 long noncoding RNAs, comprising 3947 antisense RNAs, 5277 lincRNAs, 7625 pseudogenes, and 2730 additional lncRNAs. As a first step towards inferring the functions of the identified lncRNAs in developing B-cells, we analysed their co-expression with well-characterized protein-coding genes, a method known as â??guilt by associationâ??. By using weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we identified 272 lincRNAs, 471 antisense RNAs, 376 pseudogene RNAs, and 64 lncRNAs within seven sub-networks associated with distinct stages of B-cell development, such as early B-cell development, B-cell proliferation, affinity maturation of antibody, and terminal differentiation. These data provide an important resource for future studies on the functions of lncRNAs in development of the adaptive immune response, and the pathogenesis of B-cell malignancies that originate from distinct B-cell subpopulations. Tonsils were collected from six patients (homo sapiens) during routine tonsillectomy. Mononuclear cells were isolated from tonsils and prepared for multiparametric flow cytometry using an optimized and validated protocol. B-cell subsets of naive, centroblasts, centrocytes, menory and plasmablast cells were isolated and a total of 30 gene expression profiles were generated using the HuEx-1_0-st-v2-micro array chip from Affymetrix.

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Epigenetic profiling of human CD4+ memory T cells reveals their proliferative history and argues in favor of a progressive differentiation model driven by epigenetically controlled master regulators.

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