Translation initiation in eukaryotes necessitates the assembly of an 80S ribosomal complex. Eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs) are utilized in a sequence of reactions that leads to 80S ribosomal assembly and initiation of translation. Mammalian eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4F (eIF4F) is a protein complex that contains eIF4A, eIF4E and eIF4G, binds mRNA at a 5’-cap motif and recruits the 43S ribosomal preinitiation complex to the eligible transcript. Along with eIF4B, the eIF4F complex mediates the unwinding of mRNA secondary structure to facilitate ribosome association. eIF4E specifically interacts with the 5’ cap, eIF4A(I,II) are bidirectional RNA helicases, and eIF4G(I,II) are scaffolding proteins which coordinate eIF4E, eIF4A, eIF3 and the 40S ribosome. Human eIF4AI (eIF4A, DDX2A) is a 406 amino acid protein that is 92.7% homologous to mouse eIF4AI. The promoter region of human eIF4A1 contains TATA and CAAT motifs and consensus binding sites to Sp1 and AP2.