Toll-Like Receptor 9 Signaling Activates NF-κB through IFN Regulatory Factor-8/IFN Consensus Sequence Binding Protein in Dendritic Cells

Unmethylated CpG DNA binds to the Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and activates NF-kappaB to induce cytokine genes in dendritic cells (DCs). IFN regulatory factor (IRF)-8/IFN consensus sequence binding protein is a transcription factor important for development and activation of DCs. We found that DCs from IRF-8(-/-) mice were unresponsive to CpG and failed to induce TNF-alpha and IL-6, targets of NF-kappaB. Revealing a signaling defect selective for CpG, these cytokines were robustly induced in IRF-8(-/-) DCs in response to LPS that signals through TLR4. IRF-8(-/-) DCs expressed TLR9, adaptor myeloid differentiation factor 88, and other signaling molecules, but CpG failed to activate NF-kappaB in -/- cells. This was due to the selective inability of -/- DCs to activate I-kappaB kinase alphabeta, the kinases required for NF-kappaB in response to CpG. IRF-8 reintroduction fully restored CpG activation of NF-kappaB and cytokine induction in -/- DCs. Together, TLR signals that activate NF-kappaB are diverse among different TLRs, and TLR9 signaling uniquely depends on IRF-8 in DCs.