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Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 361–371 (1 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrc2628

Tumour necrosis factor and cancer

Frances Balkwill

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a major inflammatory cytokine that was first identified for its ability to induce rapid haemorrhagic necrosis of experimental cancers. When efforts to harness this anti-tumour activity in cancer treatments were underway, a paradoxical tumour-promoting role of TNF became apparent. Now that links between inflammation and cancer are appreciated, is TNF a target or a therapeutic in malignant disease — or both?