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DNA Methylation, Age-Related Immune Defects, and Autoimmunity

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Epigenetics of Aging

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Abstract

The adaptive immune system is a highly proliferative organ that combines ongoing differentiation with preservation of memory. CpG DNA methylation is central to many of the fate decisions that occur from early lymphoid development to late effector functions of end-differentiated cells. Many of the DNA demethylation-sensitive genes play an important role in autoimmune diseases and in the immune defects that are associated with the aging process, suggesting that failing epigenetic control mechanisms of genes involved in adaptive immune responses contribute to these diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Kathleen B. and Mason I. Lowance Center for Human Immunology and Rheumatology, Emory University School of Medicine, Room 1003 Woodruff Memorial Research Building 101 Woodruff Circle, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jörg J. Goronzy, Guangjin Li & Cornelia M. Weyand

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  1. Jörg J. Goronzy
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Correspondence to Jörg J. Goronzy .

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  1. Dept. Biology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, University Blvd. 1300, Birmingham, 35294-1170, U.S.A.

    Trygve O. Tollefsbol

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Goronzy, J.J., Li, G., Weyand, C.M. (2010). DNA Methylation, Age-Related Immune Defects, and Autoimmunity. In: Tollefsbol, T. (eds) Epigenetics of Aging. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0639-7_18

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