on November 5, 2012
Transcription factors and miRNAs often work concertedly to regulate the expression of a broad number of genes central to immune and inflammatory responses. The study recently published by the group of Dr. Silvia Monticelli in the Molecular and Cellular Biology journal demonstrated that a molecular circuitry comprising the transcription factor NF-κB p50 and the miRNA miR-146a is active in cells of both myeloid and lymphoid origin to regulate cell survival and effector functions.
These results provide new insights in the interplay between transcription factors and miRNAs in regulatory networks, and have important implications for our understanding of the physiologic responses occurring, for example, during infections with helminth parasites or allergic reactions and possibly even in mast cell disorders such as systemic mastocytosis.
This work, selected as “article of significant interest” by the Editors of the Molecular and Cellular Biology journal, was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Ceresio Foundation.
