Dominating TNF

The use of dominant negative proteins - proteins that ab-rogate the function of their natural counterparts - is relatively commonplace in the laboratory. Now Xencor Inc. is hoping to translate the approach to the clinic with its version of tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Used at the bench as a way to study protein function, dominant negatives aren't usually amenable to clinical development due to difficulties in delivering proteins inside the cell. Also, they frequently are discarded in favor of methods proven effective at inhibiting the activity of extracellular proteins, such as antibodies...