A NOVEL TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR FAMILY MEMBER, DRL, AND RELATED COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS

摘要

The present invention provides an isolated nucleic acids encoding DRL proteins, DRL-1 and DRL-2, as set forth in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:3, respectively. The invention also provides a unique fragment of SEQ ID NO:1 that encodes amino acid residues 65 to 250 of DRL-1 as set forth in SEQ ID NO:2. The invention further provides purified polypeptides encoded by the nucleic acids encoding the DRL proteins as set forth in SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:3, purified polypeptide having the sequences set forth in the sequence listing as SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6 and of DRL polypeptides which can be used to stimulate an immune response or induce apoptosis. In another aspect the invention provides purified antibodies which bind to the DRL protein or fragments thereof. These antibodies can be used to inhibit a T cell response, to inhibit apoptosis or to suppress an autoimmune response.