Characterisation of TNF receptor-2 mediated signal initiation and transduction Von der Fakultät Geo- und Biowissenschaften der Universität Stuttgart zur Erlangung der Würde eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) genehmigte Dissertation vorgelegt von Susanne Bryde aus Albstadt-Ebingen Hauptberichter: Prof. Dr. Peter Scheurich Mitberichter: Prof. Dr. Herwig Brunner Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 14. Dezember. 2004 Institut für Zellbiologie und Immunologie der Universität Stuttgart 2004 Parts of this work have been published as follows: Krippner-Heidenreich A., Tübing F., Bryde S., Willi S., Zimmermann G. and Scheurich P. (2002) Control of receptor-induced signaling complex formation by the kinetics of ligand/receptor interaction. The Journal of Cell Biology 277(46): 44155-44163. I hereby confirm that I performed the present work independently without further help or other materials than stated. thStuttgart, 14 of October 2004 For my parents Helga and Gerd Bryde and for my siblings Nikolaus and Dunja Acknowledgements First of all I wish to thank Prof. Dr. Peter Scheurich for inviting me to work in his laboratory and for supervising and helping me wherever he could. Thanks to Prof. Dr. Klaus Pfizenmayer and Prof. Dr. Herwig Brunner for their friendly support.