Functional discrepancies between tumor necrosis factor and lymphotoxin α explained by trimer stability and distinct receptor interactions

Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin α (LTα) are closely related cytokines which bind with nearly identical affinities to the same pair of cell surface receptors, p55 and p75TNFR. Therefore it is assumed that TNF and LTα are redundant cytokines. This study, however, demonstrates that TNF and LTα differ significantly with regard to their mitogenic and cytotoxic potentials. LTα's superior mitogenic effect could be explained by its formation of a more stable trimer. In contrast to the TNF trimer, which disintegrated under physiological conditions into biologically inactive monomers, the LTα trimer remained stable for several days. Accordingly, LTα more effectively induced fibroblast growth which demands long-term presence of the cytokine. TNF's superior cytotoxicity, which requires only short-term impact of the cytokine, could be attributed to a distinct interaction with the human p55TNFR. This was demonstrated in NIH 3T3 cells transfected with the human p55TNFR, where cytotoxicity is mediated exclusively by the transfected receptor. Although the p55TNFR had virtually identical affinities for TNF and LTα, as defined by Scatchard analysis, it nevertheless discriminated between binding of each cytokine and showed a 200-fold enhanced cytotoxicity mediated by TNF.