Mechanism of tolerance to tumor necrosis factor: receptor-specific pathway and selectivity.

Repetitive administration of low doses of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induces a selective tolerance to some, but not all, of its effects. The aim of the present study was to define the pathways involved in tolerance. We observed that the induction of tolerance is mediated by TNF-R55 triggering. TNF-R75 triggering or the addition of sensitizers can interfere with this induction but does not break an acquired tolerance, inasmuch as tolerant animals were also tolerant to otherwise lethal challenges with the combination of human TNF and the sensitizers interleukin-1 and RU-38486. We further defined the selectivity of the tolerance by examining changes in quantitative parameters such as interleukin-6 induction, hypothermia, and hemoconcentration. The differences between tolerant and nontolerant animals mimicked those observed after administration of human TNF vs. murine TNF and were to be found in the duration rather than in the amplitude of the induced changes. We conclude that tolerance selectively blocks the TNF-R75-mediated pathway, especially the part mimicked by interleukin-1 and RU-38486; this pathway normally leads to a state of unresponsiveness to glucocorticoids.