Introduction


Tumor necrosis factor was first discovered indirectly around the turn of the century by a surgeon named William Coley. Coley noticed that cancer patients who developed bacterial infections had tumors that became necrotic (Coley, 1893). In hopes of curing cancer, Coley started injecting cancer patients with supernatants derived from certain bacterial cultures. These injections, which were called "Coley's toxins," showed some success in producing necrosis of tumors but had negative side effects. It was later determined that Coley's toxins contained bacterial endotoxin which stimulated immune cells to secrete a substance that has an antitumor effect (Carswell et al., 1975). Further research on this substance showed that it had a direct necrosis effect on tumor cells and thus gained its name--tumor necrosis factor (Old, 1985).

It was later determined, after gaining insight into the structure of TNF, that it was identical to another protein under study called cachectin (Beutler et al., 1985). Advances in molecular biology permitted even further characterization of TNF and indicated that it was very similar to human lymphotoxin which now has come to be known as TNF-beta (Nedwin et al., 1985). So, after over a century's worth of research on tumor necrosis factor, we have gained insight into its biological functions, structure, and diseases associated with it. To continue your own personal research on TNF, click on the highlighted words!

To return to the title page, click here!

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at sarauehl@uwec.edu