Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently published a finding in J. Ex. Med linking a gene, Nrf2, to asthma. Their work found that when Nrf2 is knocked out in mice, the asthmatic response was exasperated compared to control. They found increased migration of inflammatory cells in the knockout mice. They determined that the role for Nrf2 is as a master regulator of the majority of antioxidant pathways and detoxifying enzymes for environmental pollutants.
Swiss-Prot classifies Nrf2 as a stress-regulated transcription factor.