{"title":"NFAT5 in cellular adaptation to hypertonic stress - regulations and functional significance.","authors":"Chris Yk Cheung, Ben Cb Ko","doi":"10.1186/1750-2187-8-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells-5 (NFAT5), also known as OREBP or TonEBP, is a member of the nuclear factors of the activated T cells family of transcription factors. It is also the only known tonicity-regulated transcription factor in mammals. NFAT5 was initially known for its role in the hypertonic kidney inner medulla for orchestrating a genetic program to restore the cellular homeostasis. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that NFAT5 might play a more diverse functional role, including a pivotal role in blood pressure regulation and the development of autoimmune diseases. Despite the growing significance of NFAT5 in physiology and diseases, our understanding of how its activity is regulated remains very limited. Furthermore, how changes in tonicities are converted into functional outputs via NFAT5 remains elusive. Therefore, this review aims to summarize our current knowledge on the functional roles of NFAT5 in osmotic stress adaptation and the signaling pathways that regulate its activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":35051,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Molecular Signaling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2013-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1186/1750-2187-8-5","citationCount":"92","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Molecular Signaling","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/1750-2187-8-5","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 92
Abstract
The Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells-5 (NFAT5), also known as OREBP or TonEBP, is a member of the nuclear factors of the activated T cells family of transcription factors. It is also the only known tonicity-regulated transcription factor in mammals. NFAT5 was initially known for its role in the hypertonic kidney inner medulla for orchestrating a genetic program to restore the cellular homeostasis. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that NFAT5 might play a more diverse functional role, including a pivotal role in blood pressure regulation and the development of autoimmune diseases. Despite the growing significance of NFAT5 in physiology and diseases, our understanding of how its activity is regulated remains very limited. Furthermore, how changes in tonicities are converted into functional outputs via NFAT5 remains elusive. Therefore, this review aims to summarize our current knowledge on the functional roles of NFAT5 in osmotic stress adaptation and the signaling pathways that regulate its activity.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Molecular Signaling is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of molecular signaling. Molecular signaling is an exponentially growing field that encompasses different molecular aspects of cell signaling underlying normal and pathological conditions. Specifically, the research area of the journal is on the normal or aberrant molecular mechanisms involving receptors, G-proteins, kinases, phosphatases, and transcription factors in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and oncogenesis in mammalian cells. This area also covers the genetic and epigenetic changes that modulate the signaling properties of cells and the resultant physiological conditions.