ABSTRACT
Immune and inflammatory responses are regulated by a number of glycoproteins termed cytokines which are produced by various types of cells, including T cells, macrophages, mast cells, stromal cells, and endothelial cells. In general, the synthesis of cytokines is inducible, although some cytokines can be produced constitutively (Arai, et al., 1990). Regulation of gene expression takes place at various levels, e.g. transcription, mRNA stability, translation and modification of proteins. For most cytokines, it appears that the induction of expression is regulated predominantly at the level of initiation of gene transcription. Transcriptional control of cytokine genes has been studied mainly using T cells, the central role of which is the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses through the function of cytokines which they produce upon antigen stimulation. Cytokines are coordinately produced upon antigen stimulation of T cells (Arai, et al., 1990; Ullman, et al., 1990). In this review, we focus on the regulation of the cytokine genes in T cells at the transcriptional level. Putative mechanisms are discussed.
