title: IL-2 and GM-CSF are regulated by DNA demethylation during activation of T cells, B cells and macrophages.
abstract: DNA demethylation has been found to occur at the promoters of a number of actively expressed cytokines and is believed to play a critical role in transcriptional regulation. While many DNA demethylation studies have focused on T cell activation, proliferation and differentiation, changes in DNA methylation in other types of immune cells are less well studied. We found that the expression of two cytokines (IL-2 and GM-CSF) responded differently to activation in three types of immune cells: EL4, A20 and RAW264.7 cells. Using the McrBC and MeDIP approaches, we observed decreases in DNA methylation at a genome-wide level and at the promoters of the genes of these cytokines. The expression of several potential enzymes/co-enzymes involved in the DNA demethylation pathways seemed to be associated with immune cell activation.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science & Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ohms
authors.forename: Frances M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Shannon
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jun Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D049308:Dioxygenases; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D007376:Interleukin-2; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C540839:TET1 protein, mouse; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D049308:Dioxygenases; C551914:Tet2 protein, mouse; C551915:Tet3 protein, mouse