Lymphotoxin β receptor triggering induces activation of the nuclear factor κb transcription factor in some cell types

Abstract

NFκB is a pleiotropic transcription factor capable of activating the expression of a great variety of genes critical for the immunoinflammatory response. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and lymphotoxin α (LTα, originally TNFβ) are potent nuclear factor κB (NFκB) activators in various cell types. The LTα molecule, in addition to being secreted as a soluble trimer, can also form membrane-anchored heterotrimers with the LTβ chain, another member of the TNF family. The LTα1β2 heterotrimer binds a specific receptor, called the LTβ receptor (LTβ-R), which is also a member of the TNF receptor family. Here, we show that engagement of LTβ-R with a soluble form of LTα1β2 or with a specific anti-LTβ-R a..