A recent article in Cell demonstrates that the absence of a single DNA methyltransferase, Dnmt3a, prevents cytotoxic T cells from acquiring the hypofunctional or exhausted phenotype typically seen in chronic viral infections and tumors. Upon establishing a causal relationship between exhaustion-associated epigenetic changes and reduced CD8⁺ T cell function, the authors provided mechanistic evidence that exhaustion constitutes a specific differentiation program.

中文翻译：

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T细胞衰竭：表观遗传的表型和功能改造

Cell上的最新文章证明，不存在单个DNA甲基转移酶Dnmt3a会阻止细胞毒性T细胞获得通常在慢性病毒感染和肿瘤中所见的功能低下或疲惫的表型。在建立与疲劳相关的表观遗传变化和减少的CD8 ⁺ T细胞功能之间的因果关系后，作者提供了机械证据，证明疲劳构成了特定的分化程序。