To: Mike McFarland who wrote (536 ) 8/4/1999 3:51:00 AM From: Mike McFarland Respond to
NF-kappaB Regulation and Function: symposia.com The NF-kB family of transcription factors and the signaling pathway that regulates their activity have become a classical paradigm in modern cell biology. Not only do we know most members of this family, we also know their three dimensional structure, their physiological function and how they are regulated. The major signaling pathway leading to NF-kB activation has been elucidated as well, and the function of its key players determined genetically. The NF-kB pathway has emerged as a major regulator of the inflammatory and innate immune responses as well as a major controller of cell life and death. It still remains to be identified how individual members of the NF-kB family execute more specific and restricted biological decisions. In addition to the control of basic physiological processes, aberrant regulation of NF-kB activity is suspected to be involved in a variety of severe pathologies, including inflammatory and autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative disease and cancer. There is a great demand for development of specific inhibitors of the NF-kB pathway, but we will have to learn carefully how to use them. This meeting will bring together leading scientists involved in basic research into NF-kB function and regulation, its involvement in disease and development of various strategies to inhibit NF-kB activation.
