Description
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation.
The primary role of TNF-alpha is in the regulation of immune cells. TNF-alpha stimulates the acute phase reaction, induces apoptotic cell death, cellular proliferation and differentiation, inhibits tumor genesis and viral replication. Dysregulation of TNF-alpha production has been implicated in a variety of human diseases like cancer and Alzheimer.
TNF-alpha is secreted by macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, T-cells as well as natural killer cells following their stimulation by bacterial lipopolysaccharides. TNF-alpha shows a wide spectrum of biological activities. It causes cytolysis and/or cytostasis of many tumor cell lines invitro. Within hours after injection, TNF-alpha leads to destruction of small blood vessels within malignant tumors. TNF-alpha enhances phagocytosis and cytotoxicity in neutrophilic granulocytes and modulates the expression of many other proteins. Elevated TNF-alpha serum levels are found in patients suffering from Crohn’s disease, ulcerating colitis or rheumatoid arthritis.
