Epigenomic regulation of human oligodendrocyte myelination properties – relation to age and lineage

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by immune-mediated injury to myelin and oligodendrocytes (OLs). Repair depends on the ability of OL lineage cells to form new myelin and ensheathe axons. We previously showed that late progenitors (O4+A2B5+ cells) and mature human OLs exhibit age-related differences in ensheathment capacity and vulnerability to injury. Here, we test the hypothesis that differences in chromatin accessibility and specific histone marks may underlie transcriptional differences linked to these functional responses. Confocal imaging of cultured cells revealed higher levels of the transcriptionally permissive histone marks H3K27ac and H4K8ac in pediatric than adult derived late progenitors and mature OLs. Levels were higher in adult-derived progenitors versus mature cells from the same individuals. The majority of pathways and genes related to myelination and immune interactions were downregulated in adult cell samples when compared to pediatric samples. Analysis of publicly available datasets indicated that the chromatin accessibility for genes within these categories was more restricted in adult than pediatric OLs. There was less chromatin accessibility and lower H3K27ac chromatin occupancy also in more differentiated OL compared to progenitors. The levels of the transcriptionally repressive H3K27me3 histone mark in mature OLs were enriched in genomic regions encoding for transcriptional inhibitors of myelination and related signaling pathways, as compared to early progenitors. Restrictions in chromatin accessibility were more pronounced in human cells than in mouse cells. These results link the myelination capacity and immune-mediated injury susceptibility of human OLs to their epigenomic state, raising the issue of how epigenetic modulation could influence disease progression.