LTB
Encyclopedia
Lymphotoxin-beta also known as tumor necrosis factor C (TNF-C) is a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 that in humans is encoded by the LTB gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

Lymphotoxin beta is a type II membrane protein of the TNF family
Tumor necrosis factors
Tumor necrosis factors refers to a group of cytokines family that can cause cell death . The first two members of the family to be identified were:...

. It anchors lymphotoxin-alpha
Lymphotoxin alpha
Lymphotoxin-alpha is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LTA gene.- Function :Lymphotoxin alpha, a member of the tumor necrosis factor family, is a cytokine produced by lymphocytes. LTA is highly inducible, secreted, and exists as homotrimeric molecule. LTA forms heterotrimers with...

 to the cell surface through heterotrimer formation. The predominant form on the lymphocyte
Lymphocyte
A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells...

 surface is the lymphotoxin-alpha 1/beta 2 complex (e.g. 1 molecule alpha/2 molecules beta) and this complex is the primary ligand for the lymphotoxin-beta receptor. The minor complex is lymphotoxin-alpha 2/beta 1. LTB is an inducer of the inflammatory response system and involved in normal development of lymphoid tissue. Lymphotoxin-beta isoform b is unable to complex with lymphotoxin-alpha suggesting a function for lymphotoxin-beta which is independent of lympyhotoxin-alpha. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms.

Interactions

LTB has been shown to interact
Protein-protein interaction
Protein–protein interactions occur when two or more proteins bind together, often to carry out their biological function. Many of the most important molecular processes in the cell such as DNA replication are carried out by large molecular machines that are built from a large number of protein...

 with Lymphotoxin alpha
Lymphotoxin alpha
Lymphotoxin-alpha is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LTA gene.- Function :Lymphotoxin alpha, a member of the tumor necrosis factor family, is a cytokine produced by lymphocytes. LTA is highly inducible, secreted, and exists as homotrimeric molecule. LTA forms heterotrimers with...

.
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