Invitrogen™ Human TRAIL (TNFSF10) Recombinant Protein

TRAIL is a cytokine that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family. TRAIL preferentially induces apoptosis in transformed and tumor cells, but does not appear to kill normal cells although it is expressed at a significant level in most normal tissues. TRAIL binds to several members of TNF receptor superfamily including TNFRSF10A/TRAILR1, TNFRSF10B/TRAILR2, TNFRSF10C/TRAILR3, TNFRSF10D/TRAILR4, and possibly also to TNFRSF11B/OPG. The activity of this protein may be modulated by binding to the decoy receptors TNFRSF10C/TRAILR3, TNFRSF10D/TRAILR4, and TNFRSF11B/OPG that cannot induce apoptosis. The binding of TRAIL protein to its receptors has been shown to trigger the activation of MAPK8/JNK, caspase 8, and caspase 3. Receptors for TRAIL include two death domain containing receptors, death receptor 4 (DR4) and DR5, as well as two decoy receptors, DcR1 and DcR2, lacking the intracellular signaling death domain. TRAIL is a type II membrane protein and expressed in a variety of human tissues. Like TNF and Fas ligand, TRAIL induces apoptosis and NF-kB activation in many tissues and cells.