BAFF, APRIL, TWE-PRIL: who's who?

Capucine Daridon1, Pierre Youinou, Jacques-Olivier Pers

  • 1Department of Immunopathology, Brest University Medical School, Brest, France.

Autoimmunity Reviews
|February 26, 2008
PubMed

BAFF and APRIL are two members of the TNF superfamily that have co-stimulatory activity on B cells and contribute to autoimmunity. While BAFF is processed at the cell surface, APRIL is processed inside the cell by a furin-convertase and is able to perform its function only as a soluble factor. However, APRIL can be expressed as a cell surface fusion protein with TWEAK called TWE-PRIL. BAFF can also exist as a soluble molecule and can be detected in human serum. Whether the biological functions controlled by membrane-bound BAFF differ from those triggered by soluble BAFF is unclear. In addition to this complexity, DeltaBAFF, an alternative splice isoform of BAFF shows different properties. BAFF can also, in autoimmune disease form heterotrimers with APRIL but the control and function of these heterotrimers remain unclear. In order to understand the function of these molecules we need to elucidate the complexity of the various forms of these members of the TNF family.

Related Concept Videos

Preparedness and Phobias01:09

Preparedness and Phobias

Human fear responses to certain stimuli, such as darkness, heights, deep water, and blood, can often arise despite the absence of direct negative experiences. This phenomenon is rooted in evolutionary psychology, which posits that humans have developed a predisposition to fear stimuli that historically posed significant survival threats. This predisposition, known as preparedness, suggests that early humans who developed a fear of potentially dangerous entities, such as venomous snakes and...
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies02:09

Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies

When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
The Stanford Prison Experiment03:20

The Stanford Prison Experiment

The famous and controversial Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts.
Deindividuation00:57

Deindividuation

Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual’s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint.
The Uncertainty Principle04:08

The Uncertainty Principle

Werner Heisenberg considered the limits of how accurately one can measure properties of an electron or other microscopic particles. He determined that there is a fundamental limit to how accurately one can measure both a particle’s position and its momentum simultaneously. The more accurate the measurement of the momentum of a particle is known, the less accurate the position at that time is known and vice versa. This is what is now called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. He mathematically...
Antidotes01:17

Antidotes

Antidotes are medicinal substances used to counteract the harmful effects of toxins or drugs in the body. They function in various ways, each uniquely designed to combat specific toxic compounds.
Specific antidotes operate by inhibiting the enzymes that control biochemical pathways, reducing the production of harmful metabolites.
An example of an antidote is atropine, which counteracts the detrimental effects of cholinesterase inhibitors. It achieves this by deactivating muscarinic receptors,...