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Current Pharmaceutical Design

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1381-6128
ISSN (Online): 1873-4286

The NF-kB Pathway as a Potential Target for Autoimmune Disease Therapy

Author(s): Susanne Bacher and M. Lienhard Schmitz

Volume 10, Issue 23, 2004

Page: [2827 - 2837] Pages: 11

DOI: 10.2174/1381612043383584

Price: $65

Abstract

A battery of proinflammatory agents triggers the activation of NF-κB. This inducible transcription factor participates in the expression of an exceptionally large number of target genes, many of them contributing to the regulation of innate and adaptive immunity. Since some target genes also function as NF-κB activators, activation of this transcription factor allows the establishment of a signal amplification loop. Dysregulation of the NF-κB system and hyperactivated expression of inflammatory mediators are often found in association with some autoimmune diseases, which occur upon mounting of the adaptive immune response against self-antigens. In this review we summarize the relevance of aberrant NF-κB signaling for the development and perpetuation of some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus type 1 and Crohns disease. The assets and drawbacks of systemic or cell-type specific NF-kB inhibitors and their potential use in therapy of autoimmune diseases are critically discussed.

Keywords: ikk, autoimmune disease, inflammation, crohns disease, rheumatoid arthritis


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