Structural highlights
Function
[NFAC1_HUMAN] Plays a role in the inducible expression of cytokine genes in T-cells, especially in the induction of the IL-2 or IL-4 gene transcription. Also controls gene expression in embryonic cardiac cells. Could regulate not only the activation and proliferation but also the differentiation and programmed death of T-lymphocytes as well as lymphoid and non-lymphoid cells.
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
Transcription factors of the NFAT family regulate the production of effector proteins that coordinate the immune response. The immunosuppressive drugs FK506 and cyclosporin A (CsA) act by blocking a Ca2+-mediated signalling pathway leading to NFAT. Although FK506 and CsA have enabled human organs to be transplanted routinely, the toxic side-effects of these drugs limit their usage. This toxicity might be absent in antagonists that target NFAT directly. As a first step in the structure-based search for NFAT antagonists, we now report the identification and solution structure of a 20K domain of NFATc (NFATc-DBD) that is both necessary and sufficient to bind DNA and activate transcription cooperatively. Although the overall fold of the NFATc DNA-binding domain is related to that of NF-kappaB p50 (refs 2, 3), the two proteins use significantly different strategies for DNA recognition. On the basis of these results, we present a model for the cooperative complex formed between NFAT and the mitogenic transcription factor AP-1 on the interleukin-2 enhancer.
Unusual Rel-like architecture in the DNA-binding domain of the transcription factor NFATc.,Wolfe SA, Zhou P, Dotsch V, Chen L, You A, Ho SN, Crabtree GR, Wagner G, Verdine GL Nature. 1997 Jan 9;385(6612):172-6. PMID:8990122[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Wolfe SA, Zhou P, Dotsch V, Chen L, You A, Ho SN, Crabtree GR, Wagner G, Verdine GL. Unusual Rel-like architecture in the DNA-binding domain of the transcription factor NFATc. Nature. 1997 Jan 9;385(6612):172-6. PMID:8990122 doi:10.1038/385172a0
