THE ROLE OF EARLY GROWTH-RESPONSE GENE-1 (EGR-1) IN REGULATION OF THEIMMUNE-RESPONSE

The induction of immediate early genes in cells of the immune system i s critical to determining the ultimate outcome of exposure to antigen, The importance of many of these genes relates to the role their trans cription factor products play in dictating patterns of expression of d ownstream function-related genes, Evidence front several systems indic ates that the immediate early gene, egr-1 may be of particular importa nce in the immune system, Recently, the egr-1 promoter has been shown to be highly responsive to the diverse biochemical signals generated b y antigen and cytokines in cells of the immune system, Furthermore, an important role for egr-1 in determining the differentiation pathway o f myeloid cell precursors has been recently elaborated, Finally, poten tial targets of regulation by the zinc-finger transcription factor enc oded by egr-1 include the interleukin-2, CD44, ICAM-1, and tumor necro sis factor genes, The role of egr-1 in regulation of the immune respon se will be discussed in the context of these recent studies.