Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0409974 (lupus)
 22,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

IRF-5 is a transcription factor activated by toll like receptor (TLR)7 and TLR9 during innate immune responses. IRF-5 activates not only Type I IFN, but also inflammatory cytokines. Most importantly, a genetic variation in the IRF-5 gene shows a strong association with autoimmune diseases such as Lupus. Here, we report that IRF5-deficient mice have attenuated IgG2a/c responses to T-cell-dependent and -independent antigens and to polyoma virus infection. This defect is due to the intrinsic deletion of IRF-5 in B cells, as SCID mice reconstituted with Irf5-/- B cells show a decrease in IgG2a/c expression after viral infection compared with mice that received wild-type B cells. Irf5-/-B cells in vitro have diminished TLR and cytokine-induced class switching to IgG2a/c. Addressing the molecular mechanism, we show that IRF-5 regulates IgG2a/c expression by decreasing Ikaros expression; reconstitution of IRF-5 in Irf5-/- B cells downregulates Ikaros levels and increases switching to IgG2a/c. The IRF site in ikzf1 promoter binds IRF-5, IRF-4 and IRF-8. We show that IRF-8 but not IRF-4 activates the ikzf1 promoter, and IRF-5 inhibits the transcriptional activity of IRF-8. Collectively, these results identify the IRF-5-Ikaros axis as a critical modulator of IgG2a/c class switching.
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PMID:Unique contribution of IRF-5-Ikaros axis to the B-cell IgG2a response. 2253

The B-cell activating factor (BAFF) is a member of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily that specifically regulates B lymphocyte proliferation and survival. Excess BAFF leads to overproduction of antibodies for secretion, anti-dsDNA antibodies and a lupus-like syndrome in mice. To investigate whether transgenic overexpression of the zebrafish BAFF leads to immunoglobulin changes and/or early maturing of the immune system, a Tol2-GFP-2A-BAFF/His recombinant plasmid was constructed by inserting a 2A peptide between the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and BAFF sequences. Functional GFP and BAFF proteins were expressed separately and confirmed in HeLa cells. The relative expression of immune-related genes (IgLC-1, IgLC-2, IgLC-3, IgD, IgM and IL-4), early lymphoid markers (Ikaros, Rag-1 and TCRAC), and the protooncogene Bcl-2 were evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in F0 founder of transgenic zebrafish juveniles and adults. Ectopic expression of BAFF in adults was confirmed using Western blots and was shown to upregulate IgLC-1, IgLC-2, IgD, IgM, IgZ/T, Ikaros, Rag-1, TCRAC, IL-4 and Bcl-2 expression in juveniles on day 21 and IgLC-1, IgLC-2, IgD, IgM,IgZ/T, Rag-1, TCRAC and Bcl-2 expression in zebrafish three months postfertilization. The relative titers of specific IgM against Edwardsiella tarda WED were assessed using modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the whole body homogenate of zebrafish and demonstrated a significant increase in BAFF-transgenic group. Therefore, our findings provided novel insight into further exploration of modulating adaptive immunity and studying autoimmune diseases caused by regulating BAFF.
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PMID:Transgenic overexpression of BAFF regulates the expression of immune-related genes in zebrafish, Danio rerio. 2799 73

The drugs lenalidomide and pomalidomide bind to the protein cereblon, directing the CRL4-CRBN E3 ligase toward the transcription factors Ikaros and Aiolos to cause their ubiquitination and degradation. Here we describe CC-220 (compound 6), a cereblon modulator in clinical development for systemic lupus erythematosis and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Compound 6 binds cereblon with a higher affinity than lenalidomide or pomalidomide. Consistent with this, the cellular degradation of Ikaros and Aiolos is more potent and the extent of substrate depletion is greater. The crystal structure of cereblon in complex with DDB1 and compound 6 reveals that the increase in potency correlates with increased contacts between compound 6 and cereblon away from the modeled binding site for Ikaros/Aiolos. These results describe a new cereblon modulator which achieves greater substrate degradation via tighter binding to the cereblon E3 ligase and provides an example of the effect of E3 ligase binding affinity with relevance to other drug discovery efforts in targeted protein degradation.
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PMID:A Cereblon Modulator (CC-220) with Improved Degradation of Ikaros and Aiolos. 2842 20