| abstract |
Agonists for TRAIL death receptors including polypeptides that bind to TRAIL death receptor TRAIL-R1 (DR4) and/or TRAIL-R2 (DR5) and optionally having a multimerizing, e.g. trimerizing domain. Agonists are described that do not bind to TRAIL decoy receptors. The multimerizing domain may be derived from human tetranectin. The agonists can induce apoptosis in pathogenic cells expressing a TRAIL death receptor. Pharmaceutical compositions are described for treating diseases associated with cells expressing DR4 and DR5, such as tumor cells. Methods for selecting polypeptides and preparing multimeric complexes. |