Misregulated Posttranscriptional Checkpoints: Inflammation and Tumorigenesis

Our understanding of gene expression and regulation has undergone tremendous strides over the past several decades due to the successes of many laboratories in elucidating the control of transcription. But of course, the control of gene expression in mammalian cells extends to many levels beyond transcription and occurs in the nucleus and cytoplasm. For example, in the nucleus, pre-mRNA molecules undergo modifications involving the addition of a 5′ cap structure and for most, the addition of a 3′ poly(A) tract. These two modifications improve the translation and stability of mRNAs. Some genes encode alternative polyadenylation sites, the choice of which can determine the sequence of the 3′ noncoding region of the mRNA. Many pre-mRNA molecules must also be processed by the splicing machinery to remove introns. In some cases, pre-mRNAs transcribed from a single gene are alternatively spliced to...