The transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) acts as a central regulator of immune response, stress response, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Aberrant regulation of NF-κB function triggers development of cancers, metabolic diseases, and autoimmune diseases. We attempted to characterize a global picture of the NF-κB target gene network relevant to the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS).

We identified the comprehensive set of 918 NF-κB p65 binding sites on protein-coding genes from chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-Seq) dataset of TNFα-stimulated human B lymphoblastoid cells. The molecular network was studied by a battery of pathway analysis tools of bioinformatics.

The GenomeJack genome viewer showed that NF-κB p65 binding sites were accumulated in promoter (35.5%) and intronic (54.9%) regions with an existence of the NF-κB consensus sequence motif. A set of 52 genes (5.7%) corresponded to known NF-κB targets by database search. KEGG, PANTHER, and Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) revealed that the NF-κB p65 target gene network is linked to regulation of immune functions and oncogenesis, including B cell receptor signaling, T cell activation pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling, and apoptosis signaling, and molecular mechanisms of cancers. KeyMolnet indicated an involvement of the complex crosstalk among core transcription factors in the NF-κB p65 target gene network. Furthermore, the set of NF-κB p65 target genes included 10 genes among 98 MS risk alleles and 49 molecules among 709 MS brain lesion-specific proteins.

These results suggest that aberrant regulation of NF-κB-mediated gene expression, by inducing dysfunction of diverse immune functions, is closely associated with development and progression of MS.