Nature Immunology
3, 221 - 227 (2002)
doi:10.1038/ni0302-221
NF- B at the crossroads of life and deathMichael Karin1
& Anning Lin21
Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0636, USA. 2
Ben May Institute for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 60627, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Michael Karin karinoffice@ucsd.eduThe choice between life and death is one of the major events in regulation of the immune system. T cells that specifically recognize viral or bacterial antigens are selected to survive and proliferate in response to infection, whereas those that are self-reactive are eliminated via apoptosis. Even the survival of alloreactive T cells requires their proper costimulation and, when infection subsides, the activated T cells are eliminated. A major regulator of such life or death decisions is the transcription factor NF- B. However, NF-B cannot function alone. A variety of mechanisms exist to modulate its activity and thereby affect the ultimate outcome of a cell's fate.
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