Species Human Entrez 3661 | Human Mouse Ensembl ENSG00000126456 | |
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Aliases IRF3, entrez:3661, IIAE7, interferon regulatory factor 3 External IDs OMIM: 603734 MGI: 1859179 HomoloGene: 1208 GeneCards: IRF3 | ||
Interferon regulatory factor 3, also known as IRF3, is an interferon regulatory factor.
Contents
Function
IRF3 is a member of the interferon regulatory transcription factor (IRF) family. IRF3 was originally discovered as a homolog of IRF1 and IRF2. IRF3 has been further characterized and shown to contain several functional domains including a nuclear export signal, a DNA-binding domain, a C-terminal IRF association domain and several regulatory phosphorylation sites. IRF3 is found in an inactive cytoplasmic form that upon serine/threonine phosphorylation forms a complex with CREBBP. This complex translocates to the nucleus and activates the transcription of interferons alpha and beta, as well as other interferon-induced genes.
IRF3 plays an important role in the innate immune system's response to viral infection. Aggregated MAVS have been found to activate IRF3 dimerization. A recent study shows phosphorylation of innate immune adaptor proteins MAVS, STING and TRIF at a conserved pLxIS motif recruits and specifies IRF3 phosphorylation and activation by the Serine/threonine-protein kinase TBK1, thereby restricts the production of type-I interferons.
Interactions
IRF3 has been shown to interact with IRF7.