| abstract |
The invention relates to soluble, secreted tumor necrosis factor receptor polypeptides as well as to polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides and to related compositions and methods. The polypeptides can be used to detect ligands, agonists and antagonists, as well as to be used in methods for modulating B cell activation. The invention also relates to methods for inhibiting ztnf4 activity in mammals comprising administering a certain amount of a compound selected from the group consisting of a polypeptide comprising an extracellular domain of BR43x2, TACI or BCMA. The invention also includes methods for preparing polypeptides. The polypeptides contain one cysteine repeat that is a homolog of other tumor necrosis factor receptors such as transmembrane activator and CAML integrator (TACI). |