Toll-like Receptor and Pattern Sensing for Evoking Immune Response
Editor-in-Chief
V.H.L. LEE
Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR
Executive Editors
M. GUMBLETON
Cardiff, UK
S. HAMM-ALVAREZ
Los Angeles, CA, USA
J. HUBBELL
Lausanne, Switzerland
H. GHANDEHARI
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Y. TAKAKURA
Kyoto, Japan
Interferon (IFN)-α/β (type I IFNs) are antiviral mediators that induce various effectors required for host immunity. It has been known for 40 years that viruses or nucleotide derivatives including double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) trigger IFN induction in a variety of cell types . In fibroblasts, viruses and polyI:C (a dsRNA analog) induce IFN-β in distinct manners . While it is evident that type I IFN has a central role in anti-microbial immune responses, until recently the mechanisms leading to induction of IFN-α/β were unclear.Recently, several microbial pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) and their corresponding signaling pathways have been identified as molecular cascades that results in type I IFN induction. These cascades transmit signals that activate several transcription factors, among them the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family, which include IRF-1, IRF-3 and IRF-7. The transcription factor IRF-1 and its regulatory factor IRF-2 were first reported to participate in the induction of IFN-α/β . However, later studies revealed that IRF-3 and IRF-7 were more crucial as triggers of IFN-α/β induction . Studies examining how viruses and polyI:C activate members of the IRF family to induce IFN-α/β production are beginning to identify links between microbial PRRs and IRFs.
发表于 2010-2-20 09:46:04