Conserved and Unique Functions of Blimp1 in Immune Cells.

B-lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1 (Blimp1), is an evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulator originally described as a repressor of gene transcription. Blimp1 crucially regulates embryonic development and terminal differentiation in numerous cell lineages, including immune cells. Initial investigations of Blimp1's role in immunity established its non-redundant role in lymphocytic terminal effector differentiation and function.

HRD Complex Self-Remodeling Enables a Novel Route of Membrane Protein Retrotranslocation.

ER-associated degradation (ERAD) targets misfolded ER proteins for degradation. Retrotranslocation, a key feature of ERAD, entails removal of ubiquitinated substrates into the cytosol for proteasomal destruction. Recently, it has been shown that the Hrd1 E3 ligase forms a retrotranslocation channel for luminal (ERAD-L) substrates.

Blimp-1 Functions as a Molecular Switch to Prevent Inflammatory Activity in Foxp3RORγt Regulatory T Cells.

Foxp3 regulatory T cells (Treg) are essential modulators of immune responses, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their function are not fully understood. Here we show that the transcription factor Blimp-1 is a crucial regulator of the Foxp3RORγt Treg subset. The intrinsic expression of Blimp-1 in these cells is required to prevent production of Th17-associated cytokines.