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Developmental biology

Worlds in common through NF-κB

Nature volume 392, pages 547–548 (1998)Cite this article

A transcription factor that regulates cell activity in the immune system and a human syndrome that affects face and limb development seem worlds apart. On pages 611 and 615 of this issue, however, Kanegae et al.1 and Bushdid et al.2 report an unsuspected role of NF-κB that brings these worlds together in the context of chick limb development.

NF-κB (or, to give it its full name, nuclear factor regulating expression of kappa light-chain immunoglobulin) is a well-known transcriptional regulator that was first identified in B cells3. Its activity is mediated by a family of molecules, including the product of the gene, c-rel. The two new papers1,2 report that c-rel is expressed in cells at the tip of chick limb buds. When NF-κB activity is blocked, limb abnormalities, mostly truncations, are observed. This provides direct evidence that this intracellular signalling mechanism is necessary for vertebrate embryonic development. Members of the NF-κB family were already known to be homologous to the product of the Drosophila gene Dorsal4, and this led to the identification of targets of NF-κB signalling in the chick limb. Last year, mutations in one of these targets, the Twist gene, were shown to be responsible for the human Saethre-Chotzen syndrome in which limb anomalies are found5.

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Figure 1: Outline of a developmental pathway based on NF-κB signalling.

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  1. the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, Medawar Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Cheryll Tickle

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  1. Cheryll Tickle
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Tickle, C. Worlds in common through NF-κB. Nature 392, 547–548 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33276

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