Julia K. Polansky

TL;DR: The data suggest that expression of Foxp3 must be stabilized by epigenetic modification to allow the development of a permanent suppressor cell lineage, a finding of significant importance for therapeutic applications involving induction or transfer of Tregs and for the understanding of long-term cell lineage decisions.

TL;DR: It is reported that inhibition of DNA methylation by azacytidine, even in absence of exogenous TGF‐β, not only promoted de novo induction of Foxp3 expression during priming, but also conferred stability of Fox p3 expression upon restimulation.

TL;DR: The predominant, although not exclusive, effect of Foxp3 occupancy is to suppress the activation of target genes on T-cell stimulation, which appears to be crucial for the normal function of Treg cells.

TL;DR: Evidence is highlighted suggesting that epigenetic regulation of the FOXP3 locus contributes to its role as a lineage-specification factor in regulatory T (TReg) cells.

TL;DR: This study shows that commitment to a stable lineage occurred during early stages of murine thymic Treg development by engraving of lineage-specific epigenetic marks in parallel with establishment of a Treg-specific gene expression profile.