Post-transcriptional regulation of cytokine signaling during inflammatory responses

Cytokines serve essential roles in cell to cell communication during development, maintenance of homeostasis, and responses to external stimuli. The expression of cytokines and the signals transmitted by cytokines to target cells need to be tightly regulated at several levels, including transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. We briefly summarize the role of post-transcriptional mechanisms in coordinating the regulation of cytokine signaling during inflammatory responses, with an emphasis on AU-rich elements (AREs) and GU-rich elements (GREs). AREs and GREs work in concert to coordinate networks of cytokine signaling. The precise regulation of cytokine signaling is particularly important because its dysregulation can be a contributing factor for human diseases, including autoimmune diseases and cancer.