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  • Review Article
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Control of lymphocyte development by nuclear factor-κB

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 5, pages 435–445 (2005)Cite this article

Key Points

  • In addition to its well-known role in driving the rapid host response to stress and pathogens, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) has a crucial role in T- and B-cell development. Its main (although not sole) role is to ensure lymphocyte survival at various developmental stages.

  • In early lymphopoiesis, NF-κB is probably needed to protect precursors from cell death induced by high levels of tumour-necrosis factor. At later stages, signalling through the pre-T-cell receptor and the pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR) activates NF-κB, which provides survival signals for developmental progression.

  • In the thymus, self-antigen-induced NF-κB activity might help to set the threshold for signals during positive and negative selection.

  • In the bone marrow, self-antigen-induced signalling through the BCR might induce apoptosis of immature B cells, owing to limited NF-κB activation.

  • NF-κB is essential for survival and maturation of transitional B cells in the spleen. Induction of the non-classical pathway of NF-κB activation through the B-cell-activating-factor receptor (BAFFR), which results in p52–REL-B induction, has a crucial role in these processes.

  • NF-κB is required for the long-term maintenance of mature T and B cells.

  • Generation of marginal-zone B cells requires extensive activation of NF-κB (which is possibly mediated through the BCR and BAFFR).

  • Activation of NF-κB mediated by IKK-β (inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB) kinase-β) is essential for the development of regulatory T-cell and natural killer T-cell subsets.

  • The normal function of NF-κB is perturbed in numerous diseases, leading, for example, to survival of self-reactive lymphocytes and autoimmune disease or to cancerous cells.

Abstract

The evolutionarily conserved nuclear factor-κB family of transcription factors is known to have a crucial role in rapid responses to stress and pathogens, inducing transcription of many genes that are essential for host defence. Now, studies of mice that are deficient in nuclear factor-κB-family members (or deficient in the activation of these factors) reveal that nuclear factor-κB is extensively involved in the development of T cells and B cells. And, as we review here, although these factors have several roles, their primary cell-autonomous function is to ensure lymphocyte survival at various developmental stages. This function is subverted in numerous diseases and can lead, for example, to survival of self-reactive lymphocytes or tumour cells.

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Figure 1: The NF-κB and IκB families.
Figure 2: Signal-transduction pathways for NF-κB activation.
Figure 3: Role of NF-κB in T-cell development.
Figure 4: Role of NF-κB in B-cell development.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members, past and present, of the Siebenlist laboratory for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immune Activation Section, Laboratory of Immune Regulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892-1876, Maryland, USA

    Ulrich Siebenlist, Keith Brown & Estefania Claudio

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  1. Ulrich Siebenlist
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Correspondence to Ulrich Siebenlist.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

IκBα

IκBβ

IκBε

NF-κB1

NF-κB2

REL

REL-A

REL-B

Glossary

REL-HOMOLOGY DOMAIN

(RHD). A conserved domain of ∼300 amino acids that is found in the amino-terminal portion of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-family members. It contains motifs that are responsible for dimerization, nuclear translocation and binding to NF-κB-binding motifs that are present in DNA.

TRANSACTIVATION DOMAINS

Diverse structural elements that are present in transcription factors and are responsible for the activation of gene promoters. They interact with the transcriptional apparatus of the cell.

PRE-BCR

(Pre-B-cell receptor). A receptor that is formed at the surface of pre-B cells by the pairing of rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chains with surrogate immunoglobulin light chains; it is associated with the signalling heterodimer of Igα and Igβ. Signalling by the pre-BCR possibly occurs in the absence of known ligands and is a crucial event in B-cell development.

GRANULOPOIESIS

The formation of granulocytes in the bone marrow. It is controlled by several cytokines, including granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte/macrophage CSF (GM-CSF).

RANDOM LYONIZATION

The random inactivation of all but one X chromosome in most cells.

IκB SUPER-REPRESSOR

A mutant form of the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor IκBα. This form cannot be phosphorylated and degraded in response to signals, so it functions as a super-repressor of NF-κB, blocking its activation by upstream signals.

DEMETHYLATION

The removal of methyl groups from DNA. During rearrangement at immunoglobulin heavy-chain loci, only demethylated genomic loci are rearranged.

HELIX–LOOP–HELIX PROTEINS

(HLH proteins). Proteins that contain a particular domain (the HLH domain) that mediates dimerization between family members. This domain consists of a 40–50 amino-acid sequence that can form two amphipathic helices joined by a loop. Many transcription factors and regulatory proteins contain an HLH domain.

RADIATION CHIMERAS

Animals that contain cell populations of different genotypes as a result of the transfer of haematopoietic stem cells from fetal liver or bone marrow to a recipient in which haematopoietic cell populations (and other actively dividing cell populations) have been fully or partially destroyed by lethal or sub-lethal ionizing radiation.

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Siebenlist, U., Brown, K. & Claudio, E. Control of lymphocyte development by nuclear factor-κB. Nat Rev Immunol 5, 435–445 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1629

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