Tumor Necrosis Factor Ligand Superfamily, Member 12 (TNFSF12)

Tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 12 is a cytokine that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family. This protein is a ligand for the FN14/TWEAKR receptor. This cytokine has overlapping signaling functions with TNF, but displays a much wider tissue distribution. This cytokine can induce apoptosis via multiple pathways of cell death in a cell type-specific manner. This cytokine is also found to promote proliferation and migration of endothelial cells, and thus acts as a regulator of angiogenesis.The deduced in-frame fusion protein, which the authors called TWEPRIL, has a calculated molecular mass of 38 kD. TWEPRIL begins at the initiation codon of TWEAK and contains the intracellular, transmembrane, and stalk regions of TWEAK fused to the extracellular receptor-binding domain of APRIL.