Key Modulator of Inflammation Identified
By Biotechdaily staff writers
Posted on 04 Aug 2004
Researchers studying the molecular biology of inflammation and autoimmune disease have found that a protein called ELKS is an essential regulatory element of the IkappaB kinase (IKK) complex, which in turn modulates the activity of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB), a family of transcription factors that plays a seminal role in inflammation, apoptosis, development, and cancer.Posted on 04 Aug 2004
Investigators at the Salk Institute (La Jolla, CA, USA; www.salk.edu) reported in the June 25, 2004, issue of Science that silencing ELKS expression by RNA interference blocked induced expression of NF-kB target genes, including the NF-kB inhibitor IkBalpha and proinflammatory genes such as cyclo-oxygenase 2 and interleukin 8. Cells lacking ELKS activity were also not protected from apoptosis in response to cytokines.
"NF-kB is a major cell-survival signaling molecule, but it needs to be induced,” said senior author Dr. Inder Verma, a professor of molecular biology at the Salk Institute. "It normally is found in an inactive form in nearly all cells, but in response to external signals it encourages inflammatory responses and only triggers those responses when it receives the right messages. ELKS is one of the essential components of the complex, without which NF-kB can not function.”
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