Roles of IRF4 in various immune cells in systemic lupus erythematosus

Ze Xiu Xiao1, Rongzhen Liang2, Nancy Olsen3

  • 1Department of Immunology, the School of Cell and Gene Therapy, Songjiang Research Institute and Songjiang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201600, China; Department of Clinical Immunology, the Third Affiliated Hospital at the Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, China.

PubMed

Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is a member of IRF family of transcription factors which mainly regulates the transcription of IFN. IRF4 is restrictively expressed in immune cells such as T and B cells, macrophages, as well as DC. It is essential for the development and function of these cells. Since these cells take part in the homeostasis of the immune system and dysfunction of them contributes to the initiation and progress of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the roles of IRF4 in the SLE development becomes an important topic. Here we systemically discuss the biological characteristics of IRF4 in various immune cells and analyze the pathologic effects of IRF4 alteration in SLE and the potential targeting therapeutics of SLE.

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