Transcriptional and Epigenetic Networks in the Development and Maturation of Dendritic Cells

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that provide a critical link between the innate and adaptive immune responses. The genetic program required for differentiation of DCs from their hematopoietic precursors is controlled by both cytokines and transcription factors. The signals transduced from cytokines recruit specific transcription factors, enabling the expression of a distinct transcriptome that is required for specification of different DC lineages. The establishment of a distinct transcriptome also depends on chromatin modifications associated with critical cis elements of lineage-specific genes. In this review, recent advances in the understanding of the transcriptional network governing DC lineage specification are summarized, along with current views of the dynamic DC epigenome.

KEYWORDS::

• chromatin
• dendritic cells
• DNA methylation
• epigenetic
• histone
• lineage
• transcriptional network

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST; numbers 2012028272 and 2012-0009417) and by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family affairs, Korea (1120370, H-P Kim). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST; numbers 2012028272 and 2012-0009417) and by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family affairs, Korea (1120370, H-P Kim). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.