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Inflammation is a complex physiological response to pathogens. A prominent mediator of inflammation is the transcription factor NF- B, that acts as key transcriptional regulator of many genes coding for pro-inflammatory cytokines. Different signaling pathways activated by very diverse stimuli converge on NF- B, resulting in a regulatory network characterized by high complexity. Scope of this analysis is to provide a wider, systemic picture of such intricate signaling and interaction network: the NF- B pathway interactome. The study has been carried out following a workflow for gathering information from literature as well as from several pathway and protein interactions databases, and for integrating and analyzing existing data and the relative reconstructed representations and mathematically analyzable networks. The reconstruction of the NF- B interactome pursued with this approach provides a starting point for a general view of the architecture and for a deeper analysis and understanding of this complex regulatory system.

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Paolo Tieri has a background in Physics and holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology, and since the beginning of his research activity has been involved in Immunology, Systems Biology and Network Biology. He works at the University of Bologna, Italy.

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