Death receptor 5, a new member of the TNFR family, and DR4 induce FADD-dependent apoptosis and activate the NF-kappaB pathway.

Death receptor 4 (DR4) is a recently described receptor for the cytotoxic ligand TRAIL that reportedly uses a FADD-independent pathway to induce apoptosis and does not activate the NF-kappaB pathway. We have isolated a new member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family, designated DR5, which bears a high degree of sequence homology to DR4. However, contrary to the previous reports, both DR4- and DR5-induced apoptosis can be blocked by dominant-negative FADD, and both receptors can activate NF-kappaB using a TRADD-dependent pathway. Finally, both receptors can interact with FADD, TRADD, and RIP. Thus, both DR5 and DR4 use FADD, TRADD, and RIP in their signal transduction pathways, and FADD is the common mediator of apoptosis by all known death domain-containing receptors.