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IRF2

Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated July 17, 2025
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Interferon regulatory factor 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IRF2 gene.

01Function

IRF2 encodes interferon regulatory factor 2, a member of the interferon regulatory transcription factor (IRF) family. IRF2 competitively inhibits the IRF1-mediated transcriptional activation of interferons alpha and beta, and presumably other genes that employ IRF1 for transcription activation. However, IRF2 also functions as a transcriptional activator of histone H4.

02Interactions

IRF2 has been shown to interact with BRD7, EP300 and PCAF.

Watch videos about IRF2Explainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “IRF2”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

IRF1

Interferon regulatory factor 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IRF1 gene.

Interferon regulatory factors

Interferon regulatory factors are proteins which regulate transcription of interferons (see regulation of gene expression). Interferon regulatory factors contain a conserved N-terminal region of about 120 amino acids, which folds into a structure that binds specifically to the IRF-element (IRF-E) motifs, which is located upstream of the interferon genes.