Polyclonal Antibody to TRAIL (human) (CT)

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, occurs during normal cellular differentiation and development of multicellular organisms. Apoptosis is induced by certain cytokines including TNF and Fas ligand (CD95L) of the TNF family through their death domain containing receptors, TNF-R1 and Fas (CD95). A novel member in the TNF family was identified and designated TRAIL (for TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) and Apo-2L (for Apo-2 ligand) [1,2]. TRAIL is a type II membrane protein and expressed in a variety of human tissues. Two novel death domain containing receptors TRAIL-R1 (DR4) and TRAIL-R2 (DR5) have been identified as the receptor for TRAIL [3-6]. Like TNF and Fas ligand, TRAIL induces apoptosis and NF-κB activation in many tissues and cells. TRAIL also binds to TRAIL-R3 (DcR1) and TRAIL-R4 (DcR2) [7,8].