Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
ROLE OF NF-KB IN THE CONTROL OF APOPTOTIC AND PROLIFERATIVE
RESPONSES IN IL-2-RESPONSIVE T CELLS
The NF-kappaB/Rel/IkappaB family of transcription factors regulates a number of genes involved in a wide variety of biological processes. The activation of p53, c-myc and Ras genes suggests a role for NF-kappaB in cell proliferation; NF-kappaB is also important in immune and inflammatory responses. By virtue of its role in apoptosis, NF-kappaB participates in the thymus as well as in embryonic development. The NF-kappaB family of transcription factors is also involved in viral transcription, transformation and in the development of some types of human cancers. Given the pivotal role of NF-kappaB, clarification is needed of the mechanisms through which its deregulation contributes to disease. Several aspects of NF-kappaB regulation, such as phosphatase involvement, the mechanism of IkappaB ubiquitination and the regulation of nuclear translocation, remain obscure. Here, we review and discuss the function of NF-kappaB activation in IL-2-stimulation and in apoptosis induced by IL-2 deprivation in T cells.