title: IFN-gamma production by antigen-presenting cells: mechanisms emerge.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Frucht
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukao
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bogdan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schindler
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koyasu
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050797:STAT4 Transcription Factor; C494090:STAT4 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D007371:Interferon-gamma