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Journal ArticleDOI

NF-kappa B and Rel proteins: evolutionarily conserved mediators of immune responses

01 Jan 1998-Annual Review of Immunology (Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way, P.O. Box 10139, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0139, USA)-Vol. 16, Iss: 1, pp 225-260
TL;DR: Recently, significant advances have been made in elucidating the details of the pathways through which signals are transmitted to the NF-kappa B:I kappa B complex in the cytosol and their implications for the study of NF-Kappa B.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract The transcription factor NF-κB, more than a decade after its discovery, remains an exciting and active area of study. The involvement of NF-κB in the expression of numerous cytokines and adhesion molecules has supported its role as an evolutionarily conserved coordinating element in the organism's response to situations of infection, stress, and injury. Recently, significant advances have been made in elucidating the details of the pathways through which signals are transmitted to the NF-κB:IκB complex in the cytosol. The field now awaits the discovery and characterization of the kinase responsible for the inducible phosphorylation of IκB proteins. Another exciting development has been the demonstration that in certain situations NF-κB acts as an anti-apoptotic protein; therefore, elucidation of the mechanism by which NF-κB protects against cell death is an important goal. Finally, the generation of knockouts of members of the NF-κB/IκB family has allowed the study of the roles of these protein...
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Microbial recognition by Toll-like receptors helps to direct adaptive immune responses to antigens derived from microbial pathogens to distinguish infectious nonself from noninfectious self.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract The innate immune system is a universal and ancient form of host defense against infection. Innate immune recognition relies on a limited number of germline-encoded receptors. These receptors evolved to recognize conserved products of microbial metabolism produced by microbial pathogens, but not by the host. Recognition of these molecular structures allows the immune system to distinguish infectious nonself from noninfectious self. Toll-like receptors play a major role in pathogen recognition and initiation of inflammatory and immune responses. Stimulation of Toll-like receptors by microbial products leads to the activation of signaling pathways that result in the induction of antimicrobial genes and inflammatory cytokines. In addition, stimulation of Toll-like receptors triggers dendritic cell maturation and results in the induction of costimulatory molecules and increased antigen-presenting capacity. Thus, microbial recognition by Toll-like receptors helps to direct adaptive immune responses ...

8,041 citations


Cites background from "NF-kappa B and Rel proteins: evolut..."

  • ...Activated IKK phosphorylates and targets for degradation the NFκB inhibitor IκB, thereby freeing NF-κB to translocate into the nucleus and turn on transcription of target genes (5)....

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  • ...The mechanism of NFκB regulation is discussed in detail in this article, and it also has been reviewed extensively in this series (5)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This unit discusses mammalian Toll receptors (TLR1‐10) that have an essential role in the innate immune recognition of microorganisms and are discussed are TLR‐mediated signaling pathways and antibodies that are available to detect specific TLRs.
Abstract: The innate immune system in drosophila and mammals senses the invasion of microorganisms using the family of Toll receptors, stimulation of which initiates a range of host defense mechanisms. In drosophila antimicrobial responses rely on two signaling pathways: the Toll pathway and the IMD pathway. In mammals there are at least 10 members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family that recognize specific components conserved among microorganisms. Activation of the TLRs leads not only to the induction of inflammatory responses but also to the development of antigen-specific adaptive immunity. The TLR-induced inflammatory response is dependent on a common signaling pathway that is mediated by the adaptor molecule MyD88. However, there is evidence for additional pathways that mediate TLR ligand-specific biological responses.

5,915 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recent progress has been made in understanding the details of the signaling pathways that regulate NF-kappaB activity, particularly those responding to the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1.
Abstract: NF-κB (nuclear factor-κB) is a collective name for inducible dimeric transcription factors composed of members of the Rel family of DNA-binding proteins that recognize a common sequence motif. NF-κ...

4,724 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A role is proposed for miR-146 in control of Toll-like receptor and cytokine signaling through a negative feedback regulation loop involving down-regulation of IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 and TNF receptor- associated factor 6 protein levels.
Abstract: Activation of mammalian innate and acquired immune responses must be tightly regulated by elaborate mechanisms to control their onset and termination. MicroRNAs have been implicated as negative regulators controlling diverse biological processes at the level of posttranscriptional repression. Expression profiling of 200 microRNAs in human monocytes revealed that several of them (miR-146a/b, miR-132, and miR-155) are endotoxin-responsive genes. Analysis of miR-146a and miR-146b gene expression unveiled a pattern of induction in response to a variety of microbial components and proinflammatory cytokines. By means of promoter analysis, miR-146a was found to be a NF-κB-dependent gene. Importantly, miR-146a/b were predicted to base-pair with sequences in the 3′ UTRs of the TNF receptor-associated factor 6 and IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 genes, and we found that these UTRs inhibit expression of a linked reporter gene. These genes encode two key adapter molecules downstream of Toll-like and cytokine receptors. Thus, we propose a role for miR-146 in control of Toll-like receptor and cytokine signaling through a negative feedback regulation loop involving down-regulation of IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 and TNF receptor-associated factor 6 protein levels.

3,947 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An overview of established NF-kappaB signaling pathways is provided with focus on the current state of research into the mechanisms that regulate IKK activation and NF- kappaB transcriptional activity.
Abstract: The transcription factor NF-kappaB has been the focus of intense investigation for nearly two decades. Over this period, considerable progress has been made in determining the function and regulation of NF-kappaB, although there are nuances in this important signaling pathway that still remain to be understood. The challenge now is to reconcile the regulatory complexity in this pathway with the complexity of responses in which NF-kappaB family members play important roles. In this review, we provide an overview of established NF-kappaB signaling pathways with focus on the current state of research into the mechanisms that regulate IKK activation and NF-kappaB transcriptional activity.

3,829 citations


Cites background from "NF-kappa B and Rel proteins: evolut..."

  • ...…factors, and effector enzymes in response to ligation of many receptors involved in immunity including T-cell receptors (TCRs) and B-cell receptors (BCRs), TNFR, CD40, BAFFR, LT R, and the Toll/IL-1R family (for reviews, see Ghosh et al. 1998; Silverman and Maniatis 2001; Bonizzi and Karin 2004)....

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  • ...The biological system in which NF- B plays the most important role is the immune system (for reviews, see Ghosh et al. 1998; Li and Verma 2002; Bonizzi and Karin 2004)....

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  • ...Signaling to NF- B mediates multiple aspects of innate and adaptive immunity (for review, see Ghosh et al. 1998; Silverman and Maniatis 2001; Bonizzi and Karin 2004)....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The transcription factor NF-κB has attracted widespread attention among researchers in many fields based on its unusual and rapid regulation, the wide range of genes that it controls, its central role in immunological processes, the complexity of its subunits, and its apparent involvement in several diseases.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract The transcription factor NF-κB has attracted widespread attention among researchers in many fields based on the following: its unusual and rapid regulation, the wide range of genes that it controls, its central role in immunological processes, the complexity of its subunits, and its apparent involvement in several diseases. A primary level of control for NF-κB is through interactions with an inhibitor protein called IκB. Recent evidence confirms the existence of multiple forms of IκB that appear to regulate NF-κB by distinct mechanisms. NF-κB can be activated by exposure of cells to LPS or inflammatory cytokines such as TNF or IL-1, viral infection or expression of certain viral gene products, UV irradiation, B or T cell activation, and by other physiological and nonphysiological stimuli. Activation of NF-κB to move into the nucleus is controlled by the targeted phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of IκB. Exciting new research has elaborated several important and unexpected findings that...

5,833 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
24 Jul 1997-Nature
TL;DR: The cloning and characterization of a human homologue of the Drosophila toll protein (Toll) is reported, which has been shown to induce the innate immune response in adult Dosophila.
Abstract: . Like Drosophila Toll, human Toll is a type I transmembrane protein with an extracellular domain consisting of a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain, and a cytoplasmic domain homologous to the cytoplasmic domain of the human interleukin (IL)-1 receptor. Both Drosophila Toll and the IL-1 receptor are known to signal through the NF-kB pathway 5-7 . We show that a constitutively active mutant of human Toll transfected into human cell lines can induce the activation of NF-kB and the expression of NF-kB-controlled genes for the inflammatory cyto- kines IL-1, IL-6 and IL-8, as well as the expression of the co- stimulatory molecule B7.1, which is required for the activation of naive T cells. The Toll protein controls dorsal-ventral patterning in Drosophila embryos and activates the transcription factor Dorsal upon binding to its ligand Spatzle 8 . In adult Drosophila, the Toll/Dorsal signalling pathway participates in an anti-fungal immune response 2 . Signal- ling through Toll parallels the signalling pathway induced by the IL- 1 receptor (IL-1R) in mammalian cells: IL-1R signals through the NF-kB pathway, and Dorsal and its inhibitor Cactus are homo- logous to NF-kB and I-kB proteins, respectively 5,6 . Moreover, the cytoplasmic domain of Drosophila Toll is homologous to the cytoplasmic domain of IL-1R (ref. 9). Remarkably, the tobacco- virus-resistance gene that encodes N-protein is also similar to Toll in that it contains both a Toll signalling domain and an LRR domain 10 . It thus appears that the immune-response system mediated by Toll represents an ancient host defence mechanism 6 (Fig. 1). To inves- tigate the possibility that this pathway has been retained in the immune system of vertebrates, we used sequence and pattern searches 11 of the expressed-sequence tag (EST) database at the fragment was used to probe northern blots containing poly(A) + RNA from several organs. Most organs expressed two mRNA species: one of ,5 kilobases (kb) was predominant in most tissues except peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL), and corresponded to the length of the cDNA that we cloned. The lower band was ,4 kb long and this band was predominant in the PBL. The 4-kb band was not detectable in kidney, and liver did not contain any mRNA at all (Fig. 3). We also tested different mouse and human cell lines for expression of hToll mRNA by using PCR with reverse transcription (RT-PCR). We found mRNA for hToll in monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, g/d T cells, Th1 and Th2 a/b T cells, a small intestinal epithelial cell line, and a B-cell line (data not shown). The hToll gene is expressed most strongly in spleen and PBL (Fig. 3); its expression in other tissues may be due to the presence of macrophages and dendritic cells, in which it could act as an early-warning system for infection. Alternatively, hToll may be widely expressed because hToll signals through the conserved NF-kB pathway (see below) and NF- kB is a ubiquitous transcription factor. To characterize hToll functions and see whether it can induce transcription of immune response genes like dToll, we generated a dominant-positive mutant of hToll because the natural ligand of hToll is unknown. To produce a constitutively active mutant of hToll, we made use of genetic information from dToll: analysis of ventra- lizing mutants in Drosophila embryos had identified the function of the ectodomain C-flanking cysteine-rich region in dToll 16 as control- ling the activity of dToll in signal transduction. In three dominant

5,625 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
20 Sep 1996-Cell
TL;DR: It is shown that mutations in the Toll signaling pathway dramatically reduce survival after fungal infection and the intracellular components of the dorsoventral signaling pathway and the extracellular Toll ligand, spätzle, control expression of the antifungal peptide gene drosomycin in adults.

3,564 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 1996-Science
TL;DR: Reintroduction of RelA into RelA−/− fibroblasts resulted in enhanced survival, demonstrating that the presence ofrelA is required for protection from TNF-α.
Abstract: Studies on mice deficient in nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) subunits have shown that this transcription factor is important for lymphocyte responses to antigens and cytokine-inducible gene expression. In particular, the RelA (p65) subunit is required for induction of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-dependent genes. Treatment of RelA-deficient (RelA−/−) mouse fibroblasts and macrophages with TNF-α resulted in a significant reduction in viability, whereas RelA+/+ cells were unaffected. Cytotoxicity to both cell types was mediated by TNF receptor 1. Reintroduction of RelA into RelA−/− fibroblasts resulted in enhanced survival, demonstrating that the presence of RelA is required for protection from TNF-α. These results have implications for the treatment of inflammatory and proliferative diseases.

3,021 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review outlines the principal cellular and molecular mechanisms that control initiation of the tissue response at the site of injury, the recruitment of the systemic defense mechanisms, the acute phase response of the liver and the resolution of the acutephase response.

2,928 citations