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MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1564628
ZNFX1: A multifunctional modulator of the innate immune response
Provisionally accepted
Li Yi Cheng 1
Roy Robert Parker 1,2,3*- 1 University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
- 2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
- 3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States
Recent research has identified ZNFX1 as a critical modulator of the innate immune response. Individuals with loss of function mutations in ZNFX1 have chronic inflammation and increased susceptibility to various pathogens. Several potential functions of ZNFX1 have been proposed, including binding double-stranded RNA to activate antiviral innate immunity, inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome, and regulating the stability of host mRNAs. Notably, homologs of ZNFX1 are implicated in innate immunity across a wide range of species, including contributing to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of small RNA-based defense in C. elegans. In this review, we discuss the significance of ZNFX1 and explore the potential underlying mechanisms that govern its diverse functions.
Keywords: ZNFX1, innate immunity, chronic inflammation, antiviral response, RNA helicase, Zinc finger protein, NLRP3 inflammasome
Received: 22 Jan 2025; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng and Parker. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Roy Robert Parker, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
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