Role of the interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) in virus-mediated signaling and regulation of cell growth

As a response to viral infection, cells express the early inflammatory genes that encode small proteins generally called cytokines or chemokines. These protein can activate immune responses to viral infection as well as to modulate directly the outcome of viral infection. The group of proteins with the direct antiviral effects have been called interferons. The stimulation of interferon synthesis in infected cells is regulated on a transcriptional level and two families of cellular transcriptional factors seem to play a critical role in the transcriptional activation of interferon genes. The first one are the proteins of NF-kappa B family and the second is the family of the interferon responsive factors. While both of the types of the transcriptional factors are important for the induction of interferon beta gene, the NF-kappa B factor do not seems to participate in the induction of interferon alpha genes. The present review is focused on the recently identified new members of cellular IRF family and their role in virus mediated response, responses and cell growth. In addition the HHV-8 encoded vIRFs are described. (C) Societe francaise de biochimie et biologie moleculaire/Elsevier, Paris.