Nuclear Factor kappa B (NFkB) binds to the kappa-beta site of the immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene enhancer. Thus NFkB has become one of the widely studied transcription factors in innate and adaptive immune responses. The NFkB family is composed of five related transcription factors p50, p52, p65, c-Rel and Rel B (1). Thus in a number of situations NFkB mediates the critical changes that are characteristic of innate and adaptive immune responses. In most cells, NFkB complexes are inactive, residing in the cytoplasm in complex with the inhibitor of kappa-beta (IkB) proteins. Upon activation of the pathway the IkB proteins are degraded and the NFkB/Rel complex enters the nucleus to modulate the target gene expression (2).
Most cells of the immune system are subject to rapid turnover and this process requires the regulation of competing forces of cell proliferation and cell death, and these processes are heavily influenced by the NFkB regulated genes. During immune responses immune cells undergo rapid expansion and targeted cell death as seen in the case of hematopoietic B and T-cell maturation. While the hematopoietic cell lineages also give rise to the monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells (DC) of myeloid and lymphoid lineages. NFkB/Rel complexes are responsible for the DC development of the innate immune cells (3). The importance of NFkB/Rel in innate and adaptive immunity is evident from the various disease and infection models, where NFkB/Rel deletions have been shown to compromise immune responses against T-dependent and independent antigens (4). Thus it is conceivable that manipulating the NFkB/Rel activities may provide potential therapeutic strategies in the treatment of infections, chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases as well as the basis for tumor immunotherapy and tolerance induction during organ transplants. Novus Biologicals offers a great selection of tools in the form of antibodies and RNAi for your NFkB/Rel research needs.
Novus Biologicals offers NFkB reagents for your research needs including:
