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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Immunostaining for DNA Modifications: Computational Analysis of Confocal Images
Published on: September 7, 2017
Maintenance DNA methylation is necessary for age-related alterations in regulatory T cell transcriptional and DNA
Jonathan K Gurkan1,2,3, Qianli Liu1,3, Carla P Reyes Flores1,3
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611 USA.
Abstract:
CD4+FOXP3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells maintain self-tolerance, restrain immune responses during inflammatory stimuli, and promote tissue function and repair. Treg cell lineage identity, stability, and function depend on specific DNA methylation patterns maintained by the epigenetic regulator, UHRF1. Aging disrupts DNA methylation patterns necessary for Treg cell-mediated lung repair in a cell-autonomous manner. Nevertheless, whether maintenance DNA methylation is necessary for age-related Treg cell transcriptional and methylation programs is unknown. Here, we performed transcriptional and DNA methylation profiling on young and old Treg cells isolated from mice with chimeric Treg cell-specific loss of UHRF1. We observed cell-autonomous, age-related alterations in transcriptional and DNA methylation signatures that were dependent on UHRF1. We conclude that maintenance DNA methylation is required for age-related alterations in Treg cell transcriptional and DNA methylation signatures.
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