0000000000620440

AUTHOR

Rudolf Käfer

The KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP) regulates type III interferon expression post-transcriptionally.

Abstract Type III interferons (IFNs) are the latest members of the IFN family. They play an important role in immune defense mechanisms, especially in antiviral responses at mucosal sites. Moreover, they control inflammatory reactions by modulating neutrophil and dendritic cell functions. Therefore, it is important to identify cellular mechanisms involved in the control of type III IFN expression. All IFN family members contain AU-rich elements (AREs) in the 3′-untranslated regions (3′-UTR) of their mRNAs that determine mRNA half-life and consequently the expressional level of these cytokines. mRNA stability is controlled by different proteins binding to these AREs leading to either stabili…

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Knockout of the KH-Type Splicing Regulatory Protein Drives Glomerulonephritis in MRL-Faslpr Mice

KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP) is an RNA-binding protein that promotes mRNA decay and thereby negatively regulates cytokine expression at the post-transcriptional level. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by dysregulated cytokine expression causing multiple organ manifestations

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Inhibitors of β-catenin affect the immuno-phenotype and functions of dendritic cells in an inhibitor-specific manner

Many tumors are characterized by mutation-induced constitutive activation of β-catenin which promotes tumor growth and survival. Consequently, the development of specific β-catenin inhibitors for tumor therapy has come into the focus of drug development. β-Catenin was also shown to contribute to the tolerance-promoting function of unstimulated dendritic cells (DCs). In response to activation, DCs acquire potent T cell stimulatory capacity and induce profound tumor antigen-specific immune responses. Here we asked for effects of pre-clinically established β-catenin inhibitors (CCT-031374, iCRT-5, PNU-75654) on mouse bone marrow-derived (BM)DCs. All three inhibitors moderately increased surfac…

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Inactivation of the KSRP gene modifies collagen antibody induced arthritis.

Abstract The KH type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP) is a nucleic acid binding protein, which negatively regulates the stability and/or translatability of many mRNA species encoding immune-relevant proteins. As KSRP is expressed in immune cells including T and B cells, neutrophils, macrophages and dendritic cells, we wanted to analyze its importance for the development of autoimmune diseases. We chose collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) as an appropriate autoimmune disease mouse model in which neutrophils and macrophages constitute the main effector cell populations. We compared arthritis induction in wild type (WT) and KSRP−/− mice and paws were taken for histological sections an…

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