Transcriptional Regulation of Acute Phase Protein Genes

Inflammation is an adaptive mechanism to insure restoration of tissue and cell homeostasis after injury, infection or stress. The inflammatory response leads to differential recruitment of immune cells in organs, as well as cell-specific modifications by inflammation-induced signaling pathways. All these inflammatory-specific changes establish celland lineage-context dependent gene expression programs characterized by gene-specific temporal regulation, resulting in waves of induced or repressed gene expression. These regulatory programs are established by the coordination of celland signal-specific transcription factors, co-activator or co-repressor recruitment and chromatin modifications that act through proximal promoter elements and enhancers. Here, we will review recent data uncovering the role of transcription factors in the regulation of the inflammatory response, in macrophages. With these general notions, we will discuss about the acute-phase response, as part of a repertoire of the inflammatory response, and we will review knowledge obtained in the last ten years about the regulatory transcriptional mechanisms of selected acute phase protein genes.