Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a signaling molecule that interacts with one of two receptors on cells targeted for apoptosis. The apoptotic signal is transduced inside these cells by cytoplasmic adaptor proteins. This protein is a death domain-containing adaptor protein that interacts with the death domain of TNF-alpha receptor 0 to activate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and propagate the apoptotic signal. It is membrane-bound and expressed at a higher level in neoplastic cells than in normal cells. Several transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene.