Mislocalization of the interferon inducible protein IFI16 by environmental insults: implications in autoimmunity

The IFI16 protein was discovered two decades ago as a protein constitutively expressed in the nucleus and nucleoli of lymphoid cells that can be induced by Interferons in myeloid cells [1–3]. Such interferon-induced expression of IFI16 is transcriptionally controlled by AP-1 [4]. It is naturally present in 3 isoforms (A, B and C) that arise due to differential mRNA splicing; of which, the 729 amino acid IFI16-B isoform is most abundant [5]. While previously IFI16 expression was considered to be limited to hematopoietic cells, later it was discovered also in vascular endothelial cells and keratinocytes [6].

Source: Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews - October 30, 2014 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Mandar Bawadekar, Marco De Andrea, Marisa Gariglio, Santo Landolfo Tags: Mini review Source Type: research