title: Tumour necrosis factor and cancer treatment: a historical review and perspectives.
abstract: At the end of 19th century William Coley, a New York surgeon, was the first to describe necrosis of the tumour induced by bacterial toxins. In 1975, a protein responsible for the induction of this process was identified and called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). The application of recombinant DNA methodology has resulted in the production of large quantities of highly purified recombinant human TNF-alpha for both preclinical and clinical studies. Although TNF-alpha is still viewed by most investigators as a selective antitumor agent, its pleiotropic activities are admirably illustrated by numerous newly discovered functions of TNF-alpha in the host defenses, inflammation, pathogenesis, regulation of gene expression and differentiation. This literature survey discusses the discovery of TNF-alpha and its potential applications to antitumour therapy.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Terlikowski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000276:immunology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha