Detection of tumour necrosis factor/cachectin in pleural effusion of patients with lung cancer.
We have found that the pleural effusion obtained from a patient with lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) has cytotoxic activity against the patient's lung cancer cells. This finding occurred in the course of establishing a lung cancer cell line from the patient's pleural effusion. The cytotoxic factor was partially purified from the pleural effusion and characterized. It had cytotoxicity against L-929 mouse fibroblasts in the standard 18-h killing assay of tumour necrosis factor (TNF). By molecular sieving chromatography, the activity appeared at molecular weight of 50,000. This activity was completely blocked by a monoclonal antibody to TNF. From these results, we conclude that the cytotoxic factor in the pleural effusion is TNF. The concentration of TNF in the pleural effusion was 34.5 pg/ml by radioimmunoassay. In addition, we detected TNF activity and protein in two other cases of carcinomatous pleural effusion. Therefore, it would appear that in vivo TNF displays cytotoxic activity against cancer cells.
Ishii
Y
Y
Department of Anatomy, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
Uchiyama
Y
Y
Hasegawa
S
S
Kinoshita
T
T
Mitsui
K
K
Kojima
H
H
Fujita
T
T
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000473:pathology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis*
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha