Histone deacetylase inhibitors suppress CXCR4-mediated dendritic cell migration by regulation of maturation process

Once activated by an infected pathogen, dendritic cells (DC's) migrate toward secondary lymphoid organs, and release inflammatory mediators. Therefore, in some case, mature DC's (mDC's) are considered to be potent inflammatory inducers. In this study we demonstrated that histone acetylation plays an important regulatory role in conserving the migration activity of the DC's. We showed that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition reduces CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4)-dependent DC's migration. These inhibitory effects were found to be caused by a reduction in the expression of CXCR4, and by the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK 1/2), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Taken together, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi's) inhibit the phosphorylation of MAP kinases, and this inhibition reduces the expression of CXCR4, and this reduction decreases the chemotactic activity of mDC's.