Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders

This article is part of the Research TopicTranscription Factors as Regulators of Adaptive ImmunityView all 4 articles

Transcription factor c-Maf: a checkpoint that programs autoimmunity

Provisionally accepted
Na LiuNa Liu1Pingping WangPingping Wang2Xinyi YanXinyi Yan1Shuyu JinShuyu Jin3Yang ChunjuanYang Chunjuan1Jin ZhangJin Zhang3Jing XuJing Xu1Wang HuiWang Hui1Wenchang SunWenchang Sun1*Donghua XuDonghua Xu1*
  • 1Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang, China
  • 2Weifang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Weifang, China
  • 3Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

The transcription factor c-Maf, a member of the Maf family characterized by its basic domain and b-Zip DNA-binding motif, is a pivotal regulator of immune cells development and function. It govers immune cells growth, differentiation, function, and immune responses. This review explores the mechanistic role of c-Maf and its associated signaling networks in modulating autoimmunity and inflammation. We highlight its dual function as an immune checkpoint that suppresses pathological inflammation while promoting protective immunity, underscoring its therapeutic potential in autoimmune diseases.

Keywords: Autoimmunity, c-Maf, Immune checkpoint, Inflammation, Autoimmune Diseases

Received: 08 Aug 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Wang, Yan, Jin, Chunjuan, Zhang, Xu, Hui, Sun and Xu. 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:
Wenchang Sun, sunwch@sdsmu.edu.cn
Donghua Xu, xudh@sdsmu.edu.cn

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material