Abstract
Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a pleiotropic cytokine which plays a central role in infection, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Its functions are mediated through binding to high affinity cell surface receptors. An approach to modulate excessive levels of TNF-α in the serum is the use of soluble receptors. In this study the potential of a solid-phase combinatorial peptide library was investigated to identify peptide mimics of the binding site of the TNF-α receptor. One of the identified mimotopes was shown to inhibit TNF-α-mediated cytotoxicity in mouse L929 and in a human KYM-1D4 cell lines in a dose-dependent fashion. Characterization of the mimotope sequence by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy has shown that the inhibitory effect of the mimotope was dependent upon the presence of a protective MTR group on the side chains of the arginine residues in the mimotope sequence. Furthermore, antibodies to the mimotope were shown to recognize the recombinant human TNF 55-kDa receptor in an ELISA assay. These findings highlight the potential of combinatorial peptide libraries in identifying peptide mimics of the binding site of TNF-α receptor, which can be used as competitive inhibitors of ligand–receptor interactions.
Published Version
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