XEDAR activates the non-canonical NF-κB pathway

Members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily are involved in a number of physiological and pathological responses by activating a wide variety of intracellular signaling pathways. The X-linked ectodermal dysplasia receptor (XEDAR; also known as EDA2R or TNFRSF27) is a member of the TNFR superfamily that is highly expressed in ectodermal derivatives during embryonic development and binds to ectodysplasin-A2 (EDA-A2), a member of the TNF family that is encoded by the anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (EDA) gene. Although XEDAR was first described in the year 2000, its function and molecular mechanism of action is still largely unclear. XEDAR has been reported to activate canonical nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases. Here we report that XEDAR is also able to trigger the non-canonical NF-κB pathway, characterized by the processing of p100 (NF-κB2) into p52, followed by nuclear translocation of p52 and RelB. We provide evidence that XEDAR-induced p100 processing relies on the binding of XEDAR to TRAF3 and TRAF6, and requires the kinase activity of NIK and IKKα. We also show that XEDAR stimulation results in NIK accumulation and that p100 processing is negatively regulated by TRAF3, cIAP1 and A20.