Tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) activates transcription factor B (NF-B) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK).The mechanisms mediating these activations are dependent on the recruitment of TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2) to the intracellular region of the receptor. TNFR2 also induces TRAF2 degradation. We show that in addition to the well characterized TRAF2 binding motif 402-SKEE-405, the human receptor contains another sequence located at the C-terminal end (amino acids 425-439), which also recruits TRAF2 and activates NF-B. In addition to that, human TNFR2 contains a conserved region (amino acids 338 -379) which is responsible for TRAF2 degradation and therefore of terminating NF-B signaling. TRAF2 degradation and the lack of NF-B activation when both TNFR1 and TNFR2 are co-expressed results in an enhanced ability of TNFR1 to induce cell death, showing that the cross-talk between both receptors is of a great biological relevance. Induction of TRAF2 degradation appears to be independent of TRAF2 binding to the receptor. Amino acids 343-TGSSDSS-349 are essential for inducing TRAF2 degradation because deletion mutants of this region or point mutations at serine residues 345 and 346 or 348 and 349 obliterate the ability of TNFR2 to induce TRAF2 degradation. Tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2)5 is one of the two receptors known to bind TNF, this cytokine can be found as a transmembrane (mTNF) or a soluble (sTNF) form. Whereas both mTNF and sTNF activate TNFR1, TNFR2 is mainly activated by mTNF (1, 2), which upon binding to the receptor, causes its trimerization and activation. The fact that mTNF is the optimal activator of TNFR2 has implied serious limitations in the study of this receptor. Because the activation of TNFR2 depends on its aggregation, receptor activation can be forced by its overexpression or by the use of specific antibodies against the receptor (3, 4).TNFR2 lacks any intrinsic catalytic activity within its cytoplasmic tail, thus any signal emerging from the receptor depends on the recruitment of adaptor proteins. TNFR2 can bind directly TRAF2 and through this interaction signals for NF-B and JNK activation, as the expression of a dominant negative form of the adaptor protein (TRAF2dn) can suppress both the activation of NF-B and JNK (5).Seven different TRAF proteins have been identified so far (6). All of them share a highly conserved TRAF domain at the protein C terminus and, with the exception of TRAF1, a N-terminal-RING finger domain followed by five to seven zinc-finger motifs (7,8). TRAF proteins were initially considered as adaptor proteins between TNFRs and the kinases implicated in the activation of JNK or IB kinase IKK (9). It was then described that TRAF proteins, because of their RING finger domain, might act as E3 ubiquitin ligases, which catalyze K63-linked ubiquitination (10). In the case of TRAF2 this requires the interaction with cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 1 (cIAP1) and 2 (cIAP2) (11). More recently, it has been suggested that TRAF2 is by itself unable to ac...

The results presented demonstrate that the well-known blocker of scavenger receptors poly I activates macrophages to produce TNF and NO, triggering specific signal transduction pathways.

We report the characterization of a cDNA induced in mouse macrophages that encodes a 332-amino acid protein with extensive sequence identity with members of the mammalian nudC-like genes. The interaction between mNUDC and the regulatory b subunit of platelet activating factor acetylhydrolase I (PAF-AH(I)) shown in this article indicates a new function of NUDC. Thus, we show that NUDC increases the catalytic activity of PAF-AH(I) and that this regulatory activity is located in the carboxyl terminal half of the protein which is highly conserved. This suggests a novel function for mammalian nudC-like genes as anti-inflammatory proteins.