B lymphocytes play key roles in adaptive and innate immunity. In autoimmune diseases, their participation in disease instigation and/or progression has been demonstrated in both experimental models and clinical trials. Recent epigenetic investigations of human B lymphocyte subsets revealed the importance of DNA methylation in exquisitely regulating the cellular activation and differentiation programs. This review discusses recent advances on the potential of DNA methylation to shape events that impart generation of plasma cells and memory B cells, providing novel insight into homeostatic regulation of the immune system. In parallel, epigenetic profiling of B cells from patients with systemic or organo-specific autoimmune diseases disclosed distinctive differential methylation regions that, in some cases, could stratify patients from controls. Development of tools for editing DNA methylation in the mammalian genome could be useful for future functional studies of epigenetic regulation by offering the possibility to edit locus-specific methylation, with potential translational applications.

B淋巴细胞在适应性免疫和先天免疫中起关键作用。在自身免疫性疾病中，已经在实验模型和临床试验中证明了它们参与疾病的激发和/或进展。人类B淋巴细胞亚群的最新表观遗传学研究揭示了DNA甲基化在精确调节细胞激活和分化程序中的重要性。这篇综述讨论了DNA甲基化潜在影响形成浆细胞和记忆B细胞生成的事件的最新进展，从而为免疫系统的稳态调节提供了新的见识。同时，来自患有全身性或器质性自身免疫性疾病的患者的B细胞表观遗传学分析显示出独特的甲基化差异区域，在某些情况下，可以将患者与对照分层。