IMR Press / FBL / Volume 11 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.2741/2030

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Transglutaminase 2 in inflammation
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1 Molecular Oncology Branch, Division of Basic Science, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Kyonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2006, 11(3), 3026–3035; https://doi.org/10.2741/2030
Published: 1 September 2006
Abstract

Many reports have shown that the expression of transglutaminase 2 (TG 2) is increased in inflammatory diseases. Although during the last several decades multiple physiological roles for TG 2 have been demonstrated in various cell types, its role in the inflammatory process is not yet clear. TG 2 is a crosslinking enzyme that is widely used in many biological systems for tissue stabilization purposes and immediate defense against injury or infection. Aberrant activation of TG 2 activity in tissues contributes to a variety of diseases including neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. In most cases, TG 2 appears to form an inappropriate protein aggregate that may be cytotoxic enough to trigger inflammation and/or apoptosis. In some cases, such as celiac disease and rheumatoid arthritis, TG 2 is also associated with the pathogenic progression, as well as in the generation of autoantibodies. Recently, we discovered that increased TG 2 activity triggers NF-κB activation without I-κBα kinase signaling. TG 2 induces the polymerization of I-κBα rather than stimulating I-κBα kinase. This polymerization of I-κB results in the direct activation of NF-κB in various cell lines. We also found that TG inhibition reverses NF-κB activation. Interestingly, this coincides with the reversal of inflammation in conjuctivitis models by treatment with TG 2 inhibitors. Here, I introduce a new role for TG 2 as a signal modulator, which may suggest a new paradigm for the inflammatory process.

Keywords
Inflammation
Inflammatory Disease
Transglutaminase 2
NF-κB
I-κBα
Review
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