Basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ATF-like (BATF)

Basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ATF-like (BATF) is a nuclear bZIP transcription factor belonging to the AP-1 family that plays a central regulatory role in the differentiation and function of multiple immune cell types, including Th17, Tfh, Th9, CD8+ T cells, B cells, and regulatory T cells[1][5][7]. BATF forms heterodimers with Jun family proteins and complexes with IRF family members (especially IRF4), binding to composite DNA elements to regulate key genes for cytokine production, class-switch recombination, and cell fate decisions[1][3][4][5]. BATF controls both epigenetic and transcriptional regulation in immune cells, influencing histone acetylation, survival, and energy metabolism, and acting as a checkpoint to restrain premature effector programming[2][5][6]. Dysregulation of BATF is implicated in autoimmune pathogenesis, cancer, allergy, and infectious diseases, making it a promising molecular target for immunomodulatory therapy and disease biomarker discovery, though no approved drugs currently target BATF directly[1][2][5][7].

Other names

BATFBasic leucine zipper transcriptional factor ATF-likeB-ATFSFA-2BATF1B-cell-activating transcription factorSF-HT-activated gene 2 proteinActivating transcription factor BSF-HT-activated gene 2SFA2