Post-transcriptional regulation of cytokine in the context of renal inflammation.

Mechanisms that control mammalian gene expression, notably mRNA stability and translation, have major functions in the modulation of the cellular response to internal and external stimuli. Altered posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression has been associated with many diseases. Such types of deregulation have also recently been noted on the inflammatory cytokines pertinent to kidney inflammation. In this article, we summarize briefly the recent knowledge obtained from both human and experimental systems on the details of posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression related to the control of mRNA stability and discuss their relevance in regulating cytokine expression linked to the inflammatory processes in kidney. Despite the fact that not many such examples in human kidney diseases have been uncovered with great mechanistic details, studies in experimental models suggest that the mRNA stability control is more than meets the eye. Therapeutic potentials aiming at regulating cytokine expression via posttranscriptional modification of mRNA half-life are thus discussed.