Evaluating the Cytokine induced Stimulatory Pathways of FAM26F in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Abstract

The immune framework of human body embarks flexible natural defense constituting a family of cells and molecules that have ability to recognize mild chemical differences to foreign invading pathogens from one another and host’s own proteins and cells. The diversity of immune system overtime sparks the need to explore the underlying mechanisms for a systematic understanding. Family with sequence similarity 26, member F (FAM26F) is a recently identified molecule in the quest for control of lethal diseases as immune regulator, whose modulatory pathways are yet to be investigated. It has been reported to involve in differential expression in infections, contact among dendritic and NK cells, cytotoxicity and activation of NK cells, and induction of interferon gamma and associated genes. So, the present study was designed to analyze the cytokine induced stimulatory pathways of FAM26F in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. IFN-α, IFN-γ and TNF-α were selected as immune modulators playing fundamental part in inborn immunity. Real time PCR analysis showed significant upregulation of FAM26F by IFN-α followed by mild increase in expression by IFN-γ and TNF-α. The results suggest positive correlation of FAM26F with IFN-α stimulated NFκB pathway highlighting that FAM26F is induced downstream by NFκB. The findings uphold the position of FAM26F in innate immunity. In future, there is a need to further investigate FAM26F role in clinical settings through mRNA expression levels and proteome analysis.