TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS IN IMMUNE-MEDIATED DISEASE

A large amount of detailed information about the intracellular protein s regulating NF-kappa B activation and the cellular response to NF-kap pa B activation has emerged recently. Several small molecules, an anti sense oligonucleotide, and gene therapeutic agents that inhibit NF-kap pa B activation have been described. Despite this, there are still sig nificant gaps in our understanding of this process and its consequence s. In contrast, the characterization of transcription factors selectiv ely regulating cytokine production by CD4(+) T cell subsets is at a ve ry early stage. Three interacting proteins have recently been shown to contribute to subset-restricted expression of the IL-4 gene, There ar e other elements regulating IL-4 gene expression, however, and the rel ative importance of these recently identified proteins has yet to be d etermined.