{"entity":{"id":"irf4","kind":"target","name":"IRF4","aka":["MUM1","LSIRF","interferon regulatory factor 4"],"tldr":"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).","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:6119","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6119"},{"label":"UniProt Q15306","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q15306/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 3662","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3662"}],"tags":["wave5-target"],"related":["lenalidomide","golcadomide","ikzf1","ikzf3","myc"],"cancers":["multiple-myeloma","dlbcl"],"sections":[],"technologies":["celmods"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["transcription-addiction","myc"],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Prevalence not recorded in this wave: HGNC and UniProt carry no positivity rates and no other source was consulted."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"OnCo content wave 5 (HGNC REST, UniProt REST, corpus drug and pathway records)","editedOn":"2026-09-22"},"symbol":"IRF4","hgnc":"HGNC:6119","ensembl":"ENSG00000137265","uniprot":"Q15306","entrez":"3662","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.","whereFound":["Multiple myeloma (dependency; lowered by immunomodulatory drugs)","Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (golcadomide trials)"],"targetClass":"transcription","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/irf4/","neighbours":{"drug":[{"id":"golcadomide","kind":"drug","name":"Golcadomide","route":"/drugs/golcadomide/"},{"id":"lenalidomide","kind":"drug","name":"Lenalidomide","route":"/drugs/lenalidomide/"}],"target":[{"id":"ikzf1","kind":"target","name":"IKZF1 (Ikaros)","route":"/targets/ikzf1/"},{"id":"ikzf3","kind":"target","name":"IKZF3 (Aiolos)","route":"/targets/ikzf3/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"myc","kind":"pathway","name":"MYC","route":"/pathways/myc/"},{"id":"transcription-addiction","kind":"pathway","name":"Transcriptional machinery & addiction","route":"/pathways/transcription-addiction/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"},{"id":"multiple-myeloma","kind":"cancer","name":"Multiple myeloma","route":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"celmods","kind":"technology","name":"Cereblon E3 ligase modulators (CELMoDs)","route":"/technologies/celmods/"}]}}