Tissue distribution and clearance of soluble murine TNF receptors in mice

In this study, clearance of sTNFR was investigated. The data show that bilateral nephrectomy results in an increase of the levels of both sTNFR after which a new steady state situation develops, suggesting that other organs, apart from the kidneys, are involved in clearing of sTNFR. Bilateral nephrectomy also leads to an increase in circulating TNF. This TNF was detected by ELISA and appeared to be not biologically active. To investigate whether the endotoxin induced increase in sTNFR is dependent of renal function, endotoxin was injected in nephrectomized mice. The data show that nephrectomy followed by endotoxin injection resulted in a further increase of the levels of both sTNFR. However, the endotoxin induced increase in nephrectomized mice was similar to the situation in normal mice after LPS indicating that the endotoxin induced increase is kidney independent in these mice. To investigate the relative participation of various organs in sTNFR clearance, 125I labelled sTNFR-P75 was injected. The data reveal that the majority of the sTNFR is removed from the circulation by the kidneys although indications for involvement of the liver and the lungs were also obtained. Calculation of the parametric clearance revealed that nephrectomy resulted in a 50% reduction of sTNFR-P75 clearance. Furthermore, the data presented strongly suggest that sTNFR release seems to be a continuous process, which is in balance with clearance of the sTNFR by the kidney, although other organs such as the liver and the lungs are involved.