Therapy of Infectious Diseases Using Epigenetic Approaches

Abstract Epigenetic modifications are the heritable changes in gene expression patterns that are independent of primary DNA sequence changes and affect the outcome of a locus or chromosome without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Exposures to environmental factors such as nutrients, pollution, toxicants, and inflammation can induce epigenetic alterations. These epigenetic changes may be the cause of many diseases, including cancers, autoimmune disorders, and diabetes. Recently, it has been shown that epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNAs, play an important role in viral infection and also in sepsis. These modifications affect a spectrum of immune functions in limiting or preventing the development of specific cells that affect the immune responses. In this review, we provide a brief overview of relationships between epigenetic regulations and innate/adaptive immunity during the progress of infection, pathogenesis, especially sepsis, and discuss the epigenetic-based drug therapy.