Sato M, Hata N, Asagiri M, Nakaya T, Taniguchi T, Tanaka N
Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
FEBS Lett. 1998 Dec 11;441(1):106-10. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)01514-2.
The interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family of transcription factors regulate the interferon (IFN) system, among which IRF-3 is involved in the virus-induced IFN-beta gene expression. Here we show that another member IRF-7 is critical for the IFN-alpha gene induction. Unlike the IRF-3 gene, the IRF-7 gene is induced by IFNs through activation of the ISGF3 transcription factor, and IRF-7 undergoes virus-induced nuclear translocation. In cells lacking p48, an essential component of IFN stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3), ectopic expression of IRF-7 but not IRF-3 can rescue the deficiency to induce IFN-alpha genes. These results indicate that IRF-7 is a key factor in the positive feedback regulation of IFN-alpha/beta production.
干扰素调节因子（IRF）家族转录因子调控干扰素（IFN）系统，其中IRF-3参与病毒诱导的IFN-β基因表达。在此我们表明，另一个成员IRF-7对于IFN-α基因的诱导至关重要。与IRF-3基因不同，IRF-7基因通过ISGF3转录因子的激活由IFN诱导，并且IRF-7经历病毒诱导的核转位。在缺乏IFN刺激基因因子3（ISGF3）的必需组分p48的细胞中，IRF-7而非IRF-3的异位表达能够挽救诱导IFN-α基因的缺陷。这些结果表明，IRF-7是IFN-α/β产生的正反馈调节中的关键因子。
