Control of interleukin-2 gene transcription: a paradigm for inducible, tissue-specific gene expression

Karen Bunting1, Jun Wang, M Frances Shannon

  • 1Division of Molecular Bioscience, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Vitamins and Hormones
|October 10, 2006
PubMed

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a key cytokine that controls immune cell function, in particular the adaptive arm of the immune system, through its ability to control the clonal expansion and homeostasis of peripheral T cells. IL-2 is produced almost exclusively by T cells in response to antigenic stimulation and thus provides an excellent example of a cell-specific inducible gene. The mechanisms that control IL-2 gene transcription have been studied in detail for the past 20 years and our current understanding of the nature of the inducible and tissue-specific controls will be discussed.

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