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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2012 Apr 4;36(9):1487–1496. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2012.01775.x

Figure 2. Cytokine-Related Gene-Expression Changes in AD subjects.

Figure 2

The upper level of the diagram depicts signaling molecules at the cell surface, while the lower level depicts resulting changes in gene-transcription and apoptosis-related pathways. IL-15 signals through a receptor complex consisting of 3 subunits: the IL-15Rα, IL-2Rβ, and the common cytokine receptor γ chain, γc. IL-21 signals through a complex consisting of the IL-21 receptor (IL21R) and γc. IFNα and related proteins signal through the interferon receptor (IFNAR), which consists of 2 proteins, IFNAR1 and IFNAR2. TNFα signals through two cell surface receptors, TNFR-1 and TNFR-2. Interleukins, interferons, and TNFα can all signal to the nucleus by way of the JAK-Stat pathway depicted on the left hand-side of the figure. In addition, TNFα can activate both an anti-apoptotic pathway involving activation of the NF-kappaB (central part of figure) and a pro-apoptotic pathway leading to caspase activation (right hand side of figure). Proteins shown in green were up-regulated at the mRNA level in AD subjects compared to HD and MD subjects, while those shown in red were down-regulated. Additional information on each of these pathways is included in the text.