Heterotrimers formed by tumor necrosis factors of different species or muteins.

Incubation of murine tumor necrosis factor (mTNF) at subnanomolar concentrations results in partial dissociation of the trimers, coinciding with a decrease in bioactivity. Using size-exclusion chromatography, we observed that the conversion of labeled mTNF to monomers is not only prevented by coincubation with an excess of unlabeled mTNF but also with unlabeled human TNF (hTNF). Moreover, after coincubation of mTNF and hTNF four different TNF complexes were revealed by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, viz. homotrimeric mTNF and hTNF, as well as two complexes with an intermediate migration pattern. Analytical gel filtration in combination with native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot immunodetection indicated that these new complexes consisted of heterotrimeric TNF molecules. We conclude that an exchange of monomers takes place during coincubation of two different species of TNF, which results in homotrimeric and heterotrimeric TNF. To assess receptor interaction in vitro, TNF heterotrimeric molecules were used as obtained after incubation of mTNF with labeled hTNF (which only binds to mTNF receptor I) or with labeled mutein mTNF75 (specific for mTNF receptor II). These heterotrimers were retained by both mTNF receptors, which means that the mTNF subunits incorporated in heterotrimeric complexes still can bind to both types of TNF receptor. In addition, the gradual decrease in mTNF bioactivity during preincubation at subnanomolar concentrations was prevented by the presence of mutein mTNF75, which is inactive in an L929 cytotoxicity assay, indicating that heterotrimerization can influence the overall bioactivity.