IFN-gamma production by antigen-presenting cells: mechanisms emerge.
The suggestion that antigen-presenting cells (APCs) produce interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) is controversial because it conflicts with the initial paradigm in which the production of IFN-gamma was restricted to lymphoid cells. However, some answers to this skepticism have been provided by recent findings of high-level production and intracellular expression of IFN-gamma by interleukin-12 (IL-12)-stimulated macrophages and dendritic cells. New data are now emerging to explain the mechanism of production of IFN-gamma vby APCs. As in lymphoid cells, IL-12-induced IFN-gamma production in APCs requires signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4), although the precise molecular events that govern the transcription of the gene encoding IFN-gamma are enigmatic still. Understanding these processes in lymphoid, and now nonlymphoid, cells remains an important challenge.
Frucht
D M
DM
Lymphocyte Cell Biology Section, Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Fukao
T
T
Bogdan
C
C
Schindler
H
H
O'Shea
J J
JJ
Koyasu
S
S
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018448:Models, Immunological; D050797:STAT4 Transcription Factor; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000276:immunology
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050797:STAT4 Transcription Factor; C494090:STAT4 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D007371:Interferon-gamma