Role of Tet2 in Regulating Adaptive and Innate Immunity

Jiaqi Li; Lifang Li; Xiaoxiao Sun; Tuo Deng; Gan Huang; Xia Li; Zhiguo Xie; Zhiguang Zhou

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.665897

Role of Tet2 in Regulating Adaptive and Innate Immunity

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Jun 17:9:665897. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.665897. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiaqi Li¹, Lifang Li², Xiaoxiao Sun¹, Tuo Deng¹, Gan Huang¹, Xia Li¹, Zhiguo Xie¹, Zhiguang Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Diabetes Immunology (Central South University), Ministry of Education, Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
² Department of Ultrasound, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.

Abstract

Accumulated evidence indicates that epigenetic modifications play central roles in gene expression regulation and participate in developing many autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Mechanistically, epigenetic modifications act as a bridge between environmental and cellular factors and susceptibility genes. DNA methylation is a critical epigenetic modification that is regulated by ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes. Accumulating evidence has revealed that TET family proteins function as gene regulators and antitumor drug targets mainly because of their ability to oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Recently, the effect of Tet2, an essential TET protein, on the development of autoimmune diseases has been explored. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of Tet2 in immune response regulation, clarify the mechanisms of Tet2 in B and T cell differentiation and function, and discuss the opposing effects of Tet2 on inflammatory gene expression in the immune system to provide new potential therapeutic targets for related diseases.

Keywords: DNA methylation; autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases; gene regulation and expression; immune cell differentiation; ten-eleven translocation-2.

Publication types

Review