Research Team Led by Professor Park Bo-youn Discovers Subnuclear Body

That Plays Important Role in Immune Response and Regulation
 

A research team led by Professor Park Bo-youn of the Department of Systems Biology has discovered a subnuclear body that plays an important role in immune response. This body is called the interleukin-6 and -10 splicing activating compartment (InSAC), and it is a site in the cell nucleus where cytokines, or small proteins important in cell signaling, are produced. InSAC, the team also discovered, is mediated by the Tat-activating regulatory DNA-binding protein-43​(TDP-43); when a depletion of TDP-43 occurs, there is a dramatic reduction in the processing and production of certain cytokines. The research thus highlights the importance of TDP-43-mediated InSAC in immune regulation, and it should lead to further research into immunoregulatory treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.

The results of the research were published January 5 in Nature Communications under the title “Identification of a subnuclear body involved in sequence-specific cytokine RNA processing.” Joining Professor Park on the research team from Yonsei were Professor Lee Seong-wook (Systems Biology), Professor Cheon Jae-hee (College of Medicine), Professor Park Tae-sun (Food and Nutrition), and Professor Ha Sang-jun (Biochemistry). The project received support and funding from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the National Research Foundation of Korea.