Clinical significance of tumor necrosis factor in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and benign lung diseases: a comparative study.
Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) was determined in the serum of 72 lung carcinoma patients. Twenty-four healthy subjects younger than 50 years and 10 healthy subjects older than 70 years were considered as control group. TNF was also measured in 20 patients with stage I sarcoidosis and in 15 patients with pulmonary fibrosis. The marker was detected in 32% of cases in the neoplastic group, in 37.5% of disease confined to the chest and in 25% of advanced disease cases. A large proportion of TNF-positive samples was found in sarcoidosis (30%), and even larger in pulmonary fibrosis (66.6%). TNF was also present in healthy subjects older than 70 (40%). We conclude that TNF is not specific of malignancy, being demonstrable in other benign pulmonary diseases and even in the course of physiological aging.
Rapellino
M
M
Department of Respiratory Disease, Ospedale Molinette, Torino, Italy.
Pecchio
F
F
Aimo
G
G
Priolo
G
G
Baldi
S
S
Ruffini
E
E
Cianci
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002283:Carcinoma, Bronchogenic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000097:blood; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000097:blood; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis*
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha