Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Front Immunol. 2024 Sep 20;15:1467774. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1467774. eCollection 2024.
Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) is an evolutionarily conserved epigenetic modifier responsible for tri-methylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3). Previous studies have linked PRC2 to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell development, but its physiological and precise role remained unclear. To address this, we conditionally deleted Eed, a core subunit of PRC2, in mouse T cells. The results showed that Eed-deficient mice exhibited a severe reduction in iNKT cell numbers, particularly NKT1 and NKT17 cells, while conventional T cells and NKT2 cells remained intact. Deletion of Eed disrupted iNKT cell differentiation, leading to increased cell death, which was accompanied by a severe reduction in H3K27me3 levels and abnormal expression of , , and . Interestingly, Eed-deficient mice were highly susceptible to acetaminophen-induced liver injury and inflammation in an iNKT cell-dependent manner, highlighting the critical role of Eed-mediated H3K27me3 marks in liver-resident iNKT cells. These findings provide further insight into the epigenetic orchestration of iNKT cell-specific transcriptional programs.
多梳抑制复合物 2 (PRC2) 是一种进化上保守的表观遗传修饰物,负责组蛋白 H3 赖氨酸 27 的三甲基化 (H3K27me3)。先前的研究将 PRC2 与不变自然杀伤 T (iNKT) 细胞的发育联系起来,但它的生理和精确作用仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题,我们在小鼠 T 细胞中条件性地缺失了 PRC2 的核心亚基 Eed。结果表明,Eed 缺陷小鼠的 iNKT 细胞数量严重减少,特别是 NKT1 和 NKT17 细胞,而常规 T 细胞和 NKT2 细胞则保持完整。Eed 的缺失破坏了 iNKT 细胞的分化,导致细胞死亡增加,同时伴随着 H3K27me3 水平的严重降低和 、 、 的异常表达。有趣的是,Eed 缺陷小鼠对乙酰氨基酚诱导的肝损伤和炎症高度敏感,这是一种依赖于 iNKT 细胞的方式,突出了 Eed 介导的 H3K27me3 标记在肝驻留 iNKT 细胞中的关键作用。这些发现为 iNKT 细胞特异性转录程序的表观遗传调控提供了进一步的见解。