Since the identification of two distinct tumor-necrosis factors (TNFs a and b) in 1984, the TNF superfamily has grown to include 19 soluble and membrane-bound ligands and 32 receptors. Through timely expression and intricate signaling, TNF ligands and receptors act to regulate cell responses including activation, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. While critical to regulation of beneficial processes such as immune defense and hematopoiesis, TNF signaling is also implicated in tumorigenesis, transplant rejection, virus replication, bone resorption, and diabetes, leading to the advent of numerous TNF –targeting therapeutics for cancer and auto-immune disease.
The critical role of signals transmitted via TNF ligands and receptors in mediating inflammation, cancer, and immunity has been well established in the literature. This understanding has been harnessed on the drug development frontier to mediate the pro-inflammatory properties of TNF signaling using ligand-neutralizing antibodies (eg. Remicade®) or soluble receptors (eg. Enbrel®). Similar strategies have sought to use recombinant TNF ligands to enhance, for instance, anti-viral and anti-cancer immune activation.
Our high-activity MEGACD40L® is the highest-purity, most stable on the market, and is just one of many reliable enhanced TNF ligands for immune activation studies.
