人们早已发现革兰氏阴性细菌有某种内毒素可以导致移植肿瘤出血坏死,这是肿瘤生物学引人注目的问题之一。体外实验表明内毒素不能直接杀死组织培养的肿瘤细胞,提示内毒素是间接作用。1975年Carswell等人报道了肿瘤坏死因子(Tumor Necrosis Factor,简称TNF)的存在,从而开辟出肿瘤生物学研究的新领域。 It has long been found that some gram-negative bacteria endotoxin can cause hemorrhage and necrosis of transplanted tumors, which is one of the most conspicuous problems in tumor biology. In vitro experiments show that endotoxin can not directly kill the tissue culture of tumor cells, suggesting that endotoxin is an indirect effect. In 1975, Carswell et al. Reported the existence of tumor necrosis factor (Tumor Necrosis Factor, TNF for short), which opened up new areas of tumor biology research.