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Lymphotoxin — An immunologic hormone with anticarcinogenic and antitumor activity

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Summary

Lymphotoxin, a glycoprotein lymphokine, possesses direct cytostatic and cytolytic activity for a wide variety of tumor cells. Lymphotoxin has been detected in the plasma from patients with neoplasia as well as individuals with various other diseases. Lymphokine preparations containing lymphotoxin activity can inhibit tumor growth in vivo, and recently lymphotoxin has been shown to irreversibly prevent carcinogen-induced morphological transformation during carcinogenesis. The anticarcinogenic activity of lymphotoxin is more potent than its tumor growth-inhibitory activity; the latter activity, furthermore, is frequently cytostatic rather than cytolytic. Lymphotoxin can also induce an increased susceptibility of tumor cells to cytolytic destruction by natural killer cells. The anticarcinogenic and tumor growth-inhibitory activities of lymphotoxin may be effected through alterations in cellular glycoproteins as the lymphokine stimulates incorporation of glucosamine into larger-molecular-weight glycoproteins in normal cells but inhibits incorporation of glucosamine into the glycoproteins in tumor cells.

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  1. Tumor Biology Section, Laboratory of Biology, National Cancer Institute, Room 2A17, Bldg 37, NIH, 20205, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Charles H. Evans

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Evans, C.H. Lymphotoxin — An immunologic hormone with anticarcinogenic and antitumor activity. Cancer Immunol Immunother 12, 181–190 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199172

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199172

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