Molecules and Cells Minireview MiT Family Transcriptional Factors in Immune Cell Functions Seongryong Kim1,3, Hyun-Sup Song1,3, Jihyun Yu1, and You-Me Kim1,2,* 1Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea, 2The Center for Epidemic Preparedness, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Korea, 3These authors contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence:
[email protected] https://doi.org/10.14348/molcells.2021.0067 www.molcells.org The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor family transcription factor E3 (TFE3), transcription factor EB (TFEB), (MiT family) proteins are evolutionarily conserved transcription transcription factor EC (TFEC) factors that perform many essential biological functions. In mammals, the MiT family consists of MITF (microphthalmia- INTRODUCTION associated transcription factor or melanocyte-inducing transcription factor), TFEB (transcription factor EB), TFE3 The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor fami- (transcription factor E3), and TFEC (transcription factor EC). ly (MiT family) consists of four transcription factors: MITF These transcriptional factors belong to the basic helix-loop- (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor or melano- helix-leucine zipper (bHLH-LZ) transcription factor family and cyte-inducing transcription factor), TFEB (transcription factor bind the E-box DNA motifs in the promoter regions of target EB), TFE3 (transcription factor E3), and TFEC (transcription genes to enhance transcription. The best studied functions factor EC) (Goding and Arnheiter, 2019; Napolitano and of MiT proteins include lysosome biogenesis and autophagy Ballabio, 2016; Oppezzo and Rosselli, 2021). The Mitf gene induction. In addition, they modulate cellular metabolism, encoding the first member of the MiT family, MITF, was dis- mitochondria dynamics, and various stress responses.