NLR Family, CARD Domain Containing Protein 5 (NLRC5)

NLRC5 is an intracellular protein that plays a role in the immune system. NLRC5 is a pattern recognition receptor implicated in innate immunity to viruses potentially by regulating interferon activity.NLRC5 is an IFN-γ–inducible nuclear protein, and the expression of NLRC5 resulted in enhanced MHC class I expression in lymphoid as well as epithelial cell lines. NLRC5 associates with and activates the promoters of MHC class I genes. The IFN-γ–induced up-regulation of MHC class I requires NLRC5, because knockdown of NLRC5 specifically impaired the expression of MHC class I. In addition to MHC class I genes, NLRC5 also induced the expression of β2-microglobulin, transporter associated with antigen processing, and large multifunctional protease, which are essential for MHC class I antigen presentation.