# IRF4

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/irf4/  
OnCo record `irf4` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

IRF4 is a master transcription factor of plasma cells and a protein myeloma cells cannot do without. Lenalidomide and its successors lower IRF4 by destroying the two factors, Ikaros and Aiolos, that keep it switched on.

## Summary

IRF4 (chromosome 6p25.3) is a transcriptional activator that binds the interferon-stimulated response element of the MHC class I promoter and, with PU.1, the immunoglobulin lambda light-chain enhancer; it acts in lymphoid-specific signalling and, in complex with the BATF-JUNB heterodimer at AICE elements, in CD8 dendritic-cell differentiation (UniProt Q15306). In OnCo it is the downstream node of the immunomodulatory drugs: lenalidomide and golcadomide degrade Ikaros and Aiolos through cereblon, IRF4 and MYC fall, and the myeloma cell dies (lenalidomide mechanism steps).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: MUM1; LSIRF; interferon regulatory factor 4
- Tags: wave5-target
- Symbol: IRF4
- Class: transcription
- Biology: IRF4 is not bound by any corpus drug; it is lowered as a consequence of Ikaros and Aiolos degradation, which is why it sits at the end of the immunomodulatory drug mechanism alongside MYC.
- Where found: Multiple myeloma (dependency; lowered by immunomodulatory drugs); Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (golcadomide trials)

## Notes

- Prevalence not recorded in this wave: HGNC and UniProt carry no positivity rates and no other source was consulted.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:6119: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6119
- UniProt Q15306: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q15306/entry
- NCBI Gene 3662: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3662

## Connected records

- drugs: [Golcadomide](https://onco.cc/drugs/golcadomide/), [Lenalidomide](https://onco.cc/drugs/lenalidomide/)
- targets: [IKZF1 (Ikaros)](https://onco.cc/targets/ikzf1/), [IKZF3 (Aiolos)](https://onco.cc/targets/ikzf3/)
- pathways: [MYC](https://onco.cc/pathways/myc/), [Transcriptional machinery & addiction](https://onco.cc/pathways/transcription-addiction/)
- cancers: [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/)
- technologies: [Cereblon E3 ligase modulators (CELMoDs)](https://onco.cc/technologies/celmods/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/irf4.json