Immunodetection of Murine Lymphotoxins in Eukaryotic Cells.

: Lymphotoxins alpha and beta (LTalpha and LTbeta) are members of tumor necrosis factor superfamily. LT heterotrimers exist on the surface of lymphocytes and signal through LTbeta receptor while soluble LTalpha homotrimer can signal through TNF receptors p55 and p75. LT-, as well as TNF-mediated signaling are important for the organogenesis and maintenance of microarchitecture of secondary lymphoid organs in mice and has been implicated in the mechanism of certain inflammatory syndromes in humans. In this study we describe the generation of eukaryotic expression plasmids encoding murine LTalpha and LTbeta genes and a prokaryotic expression construct for murine LTalpha. Using recombinant proteins expressed by these vectors as tools for antisera selection, we produced and characterized several polyclonal antibodies capable of detecting LT proteins in eukaryotic cells.