LNGFR also activates a caspase-dependent signaling pathway that promotes developmental axon pruning, and axon degeneration in neurodegenerative disease.
In the apoptosis pathway, members of the TNF receptor superfamily assemble a death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) in which TRADD or FADD bind directly to the receptor's death domain, thereby allowing aggregation and activation of Caspase 8 and subsequent activation of the Caspase cascade. However, Caspase 8 induction does not appear to be involved in p75NTR-mediated apoptosis, but Caspase 9 is activated during p75NTR-mediated killing.