Histone methyltransferase and histone methylation in inflammatory T-cell responses.

During immune responses, T cells require tightly controlled expression of transcriptional programs to regulate the balance between beneficial and harmful immunity. These transcriptional programs are critical for the lineage specification of effector T cells, the production of effector cytokines and molecules, and the development and maintenance of memory T cells. An emerging theme is that post-translational modification of histones by methylation plays an important role in orchestrating the expression of transcriptional programs in T cells. In this article, we provide a broad overview of histone methylation signatures for effector molecules and transcription factors in T cells, and the functional importance of histone methyltransferases in regulating T-cell immune responses.