The regulation role of interferon regulatory factor-1 gene and clinical relevance

IRF-1, a kind of transcription factors, is expressed constitutively in all cells types except early embryonal cells. By virtue of its interaction with specific DNA sequence, IRF-1 regulates the transcription of a set of target genes which play essential roles in various physiological and pathological processes, including viral infection, tumor immune surveillance, pro-inflammatory injury, development of immunity system. What's more, IRF-1 also interacts with other transcription factors to regulate the specific genes transcription in the nucleus. In immunity system, IRF-1 is suggested to provide a link between innate and adoptive immune system. Although IRF-1 has been demonstrated with essential role in human immunity, the comprehensive understanding of the role of IRF-1 has been restrained because of extensive target genes, Here, we review the clinical relevance of IRF-1 and underlying mechanism based on the latest researches. (C) 2014 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.