[Immune regulation role of A20 and its clinical significance]

A20 was originally identified as a TNFα-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3), a key regulator of inflammation signalling pathways, as well as a NF-κB inhibitor. It plays a critical role in regulation of innate and adoptive immunity. Recently, A20 has also been proposed to function as a tumor suppressor. Lacking A20 gene is involved in inflammation-mediated autoimmune disease and tumorigenesis in several human B-cell lymphomas. Current advance concerning the feature of A20 expression in immune cells, the biological function, the immune regulated function in native immunity, humoral and cellular immunity, the inactivation of A20 in lymphocytic malignancies and the polymorphism and abnormal expression of A20 in autoimmune disease indicate that the clinical significance of A20 should be worthy to recognize and to be further employed in induction of immune tolerance, antitumor immuno-regulated therapy and antiviral immunotherapy and so on.