We have previously shown that two tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptors (TNFR) exhibit antagonistic functions during neurodegenerative processes in vivo with TNFR1 aggravating and TNFR2 reducing neuronal cell loss, respectively. To elucidate the neuroprotective signaling pathways of TNFR2, we investigated glutamateinduced excitotoxicity in primary cortical neurons. TNFexpressing neurons from TNF-transgenic mice were found to be strongly protected from glutamate-induced apoptosis. Neurons from wild type and TNFR1 ؊/؊ mice prestimulated with TNF or agonistic TNFR2-specific antibodies were also resistant to excitotoxicity, whereas TNFR2 ؊/؊ neurons died upon glutamate and/or TNF exposures. Both protein kinase B/Akt and nuclear factor-B (NF-B) activation were apparent upon TNF treatment. Both TNFR1 and TNFR2 induced the NF-B pathway, yet with distinguishable kinetics and upstream activating components, TNFR1 only induced transient NF-B activation, whereas TNFR2 facilitated long term phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent NF-B activation strictly. Glutamate-induced triggering of the ionotropic N-methyl-Daspartate receptor was required for the enhanced and persistent phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent NF-B activation by TNFR2, indicating a positive cooperation of TNF and neurotransmitter-induced signal pathways. TNFR2-induced persistent NF-B activity was essential for neuronal survival. Thus, the duration of NF-B activation is a critical determinant for sensitivity toward excitotoxic stress and is dependent on a differential upstream signal pathway usage of the two TNFRs.
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)1 is a prominent proinflammatory mediator that has been causally associated with the pathophysiology of several acute and chronic diseases, in particular rheumatoid arthritis and Morbus Crohn (1, 2). Up-regulated TNF expression has also been found in various neurodegenerative diseases such as cerebral malaria, AIDS dementia, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and stroke, suggesting a potential pathogenic role of TNF in these diseases as well (3-7). The membrane-expressed form of TNF signals through both TNF receptors (TNFR1 and TNFR2), whereas soluble TNF proteolytically cleaved from the membrane form acts mainly via TNFR1 (8). Signal pathways initiated from the death domain-containing TNFR1, leading to both proapoptotic and antiapoptotic cellular responses, have been studied in great detail (9). In contrast, there is less information regarding the molecular mechanisms surrounding signal pathways and cellular responses solely initiated via TNFR2 because of concomitant TNFR1 signals in normal situations. The evaluation of the physiological role of TNFR2 by large depends on data obtained from TNFR1 Ϫ/Ϫ mice. We have recently investigated the role of TNF and its receptors in retinal ischemia and unraveled an antagonistic function of TNFR1 and TNFR2. TNFR2 exerts neuroprotection in a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) dependent manner, which is counterbalanced by the neurodegenerative action of TNFR1 (10). TNFR1 h...