NFATp, a cyclosporin-sensitive transcription factor implicated in cytokine gene induction

The transcription factor NFATp (nuclear factor of activated T cells, preexisting) is likely to regulate the cyclosporin-sensitive transcription of cytokine genes and other activation-associated genes during the immune response. NFATp is the first identified member of a new family of transcription factors, whose DNA binding domains show a weak sequence similarity to those of the Rel (NF-kappa B) family of proteins. NFATp is expressed in several types of immune cells as a cytosolic protein that translocates to the nucleus following activation. The nuclear translocation is regulated by calcium and calcineurin and inhibited by cyclosporin A and FK506. In the nucleus, NFATp cooperates with Fos-Jun dimers and possibly with other transcription factors at composite elements in the regulatory regions of cytokine genes. The potential roles of NFATp and a related family member, NFATc, in cytokine gene transcription are discussed.