title: TNF receptors--how they function and interact.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a pleiotropic cytokine regulating various immune and inflammatory reactions. It induces cellular responses upon binding to specific cell surface receptors of two distinct molecular species--p55 and p75 TNF receptors (TNF-Rs). Cloning of the respective cDNAs and obtaining the receptor-specific molecular tools such a agonistic and blocking monoclonal antibodies, TNF muteins with exclusive ability to bind to only one receptor type, as well as generation of TNF-R mutants by site-directed mutagenesis enabled researchers to answer key questions of the biology of initial steps in the cascade of TNF signal transduction. The presented mini-review describes the mode of function of the two receptors and discusses the possible ways of interaction between them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Immunology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bigda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Holtmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor