# Molecular Studies of Noncanonical NF-kb Signaling

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2020 · $320,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The NF-κB family of transcription factors regulates diverse biological processes, including immune and
inflammatory responses. NF-κB activation involves two major pathways: the canonical and noncanonical
pathways. A central step in the noncanonical pathway is ubiquitin-dependent processing of the NF-κB2
precursor protein p100, which generates mature NF-κB2 p52 and cause nuclear translocation of the p100-
sequestered noncanonical NF-κB members, p52 and RelB. During the previous funding cycles, the PI's
laboratory has made pivotal contributions to the advancement of this relatively new field, including discovery of
NIK as a central signaling component and identification of TRAF3 as a primary negative regulator that controls
the fate of NIK. It is now known that TRAF3 functions as the substrate binding subunit of a NIK-specific E3
ubiquitin ligase complex, TRAF3-TRAF2-cIAP. Despite these progresses, our knowledge on noncanonical NF-
κB signaling is still quite limited. In particular, only few regulators of this pathway have been characterized, and
the function of noncanonical NF-κB in different types of immune cells is poorly defined.
 The overall objective of this continuation application is to characterize novel regulators and functions
of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway. The proposed studies are based on innovative preliminary data from the
PI's laboratory. Using newly generated NIK-conditional KO mice, we demonstrated a dendritic cell (DC)-
specific function of noncanonical NF-κB in regulating mucosal immunity and obtained important clues to the
underlying mechanism. To identify novel regulators of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway, we employed a
recently developed approach, BioID, to screen for proteins interacting with major components of this pathway.
After extensive characterizations, we have identified a TRAF3-binding protein, TFG, and a p100-binding
protein, Otub1, which are critically involved in noncanonical NF-κB regulation. TFG is crucial for preventing
abnormal NIK accumulation, whereas Otub1 is a deubiquitinase (DUB) that inhibits p100 ubiquitination and
processing. Our gene knockdown and KO mouse studies suggest important functions of TFG and Otub1 in
immune regulation. These innovative findings form a solid foundation for this continuation application. To
accomplish our overall objective, we will (1) elucidate the mechanism by which noncanonical NF-κB functions
in DCs to regulate mucosal immunity; (2) characterize novel factors that regulate noncanonical NF-κB
signaling; and (3) investigate the immunoregulatory functions of novel noncanonical NF-κB regulators.
 The PI's laboratory pioneered the discovery of noncanonical NF-κB pathway and has been in a leading
position in this area. During the previous funding cycles, we have made seminal discoveries that have been
instrumental for the advancement of the filed. We believe that the proposed studies will once again lead to
high-impact findings that substantially a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9873970
- **Project number:** 5R01GM084459-17
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Shao-Cong Sun
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $320,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-01-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9873970

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9873970, Molecular Studies of Noncanonical NF-kb Signaling (5R01GM084459-17). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9873970. Licensed CC0.

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