Progress
Nature Reviews Immunology 9, 83-89 (February 2009) | doi:10.1038/nri2474
Focus on: CD4+ T-cell diversity
Epigenetic control of FOXP3 expression: the key to a stable regulatory T-cell lineage?
Jochen Huehn1, Julia K. Polansky1 & Alf Hamann2 About the authors
Abstract
Regulatory T (TReg) cells constitute a unique T-cell lineage that has a crucial role in immunological tolerance. Several years ago, forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) was identified as the transcription factor that was responsible for determining the development and function of these cells. However, the underlying mechanisms that are involved in the regulation of the FOXP3 gene remain unclear and therefore preclude accurate identification and manipulation of TReg cells. In this Progress article, we summarize recent advances in understanding how FOXP3 expression is controlled and highlight evidence suggesting that epigenetic regulation of the FOXP3 locus contributes to its role as a lineage-specification factor.
Author affiliations
- Jochen Huehn and Julia K. Polansky are at the Department of Experimental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.
- Alf Hamann is at the Department of Experimental Rheumatology, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
Correspondence to: Jochen Huehn1 Email: jochen.huehn@helmholtz-hzi.de
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