Abstract

BURON HERNANDEZ, Jesús Salím  and  SUAREZ FORMIGO, Gisela María. Epigenetic mechanisms in plasticity and flexibility of the CD4 T cells. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2018, vol.34, n.1, pp. 42-50. ISSN 1561-2996.

Watson and Crick deciphered the physical structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953. From that moment on there was a revolution in the field of Molecular Biology and Genetics, whose culmination was the publication of the first version of the human genome in the year 2001. However, this was only the beginning of a new revolution in modern science: Epigenetics. One way to regulate the pattern of gene expression would be to modify the structure of chromatin through various epigenetic mechanisms. CD4 T lymphocytes (CD4 cells) are not far from these mechanisms, where its differentiation is induced by the cytokines produced by antigen-presenting cells (APC) and the T lymphocytes themselves. The differentiation program would be governed by transcription factors that promote the expression of cytokine genes in T lymphocytes and epigenetic changes in gene loci of cytokines, which may be associated with stable commitment in a particular subgroup..The flexibility or stability of T cells could be represented as a series of less stable transitions for more stable states, including the mechanisms of DNA methylation, histone modifications and the presence of micro RNA (ribonucleic acid). All this reinforces or destabilizes the expression of the factors for the stability and plasticity of these cells. Understanding these factors could revolutionize the approach of evolutionary biology and development, as well as its application in the medical sciences.

Keywords : epigenetic; plasticity; flexibility; CD4 T cells.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )