Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2006:24:607-56.
doi: 10.1146/annurev.immunol.23.021704.115821.

Regulation of Th2 differentiation and Il4 locus accessibility

K Mark Ansel  1 , Ivana Djuretic, Bogdan Tanasa, Anjana Rao
Affiliations
Review

Regulation of Th2 differentiation and Il4 locus accessibility

K Mark Ansel et al. Annu Rev Immunol. 2006.

Abstract

Helper T cells coordinate immune responses through the production of cytokines. Th2 cells express the closely linked Il4, Il13, and Il5 cytokine genes, whereas these same genes are silenced in the Th1 lineage. The Th1/Th2 lineage choice has become a textbook example for the regulation of cell differentiation, and recent discoveries have further refined and expanded our understanding of how Th2 differentiation is initiated and reinforced by signals from antigen-presenting cells and cytokine-driven feedback loops. Epigenetic changes that stabilize the active or silent state of the Il4 locus in differentiating helper T cells have been a major focus of recent research. Overall, the field is progressing toward an integrated model of the signaling and transcription factor networks, cis-regulatory elements, epigenetic modifications, and RNA interference mechanisms that converge to determine the lineage fate and gene expression patterns of differentiating helper T cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources