Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alpha reduces the outgrowth of hepatic micrometastasis of colorectal tumors in a mouse model of liver ischemia-reperfusion injury

• DOI: 10.1186/1423-0127-21-1
• Publication Date: 2014-01-08T04:03:10Z
• Authors: Shu-Fan Jiao; Kai Sun; Xiao-Jing Chen; Xue Zhao; Ning Cai; Yan-Jun Liu; Long-Mei Xu; Xian-Ming Kong; Li-Xin Wei
• Keywords: Biochemistry, medical; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Research; Clinical Biochemistry; Liver Neoplasms; Cell Biology; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; Etanercept; 3. Good health; Disease Models, Animal; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Liver; Neoplasm Micrometastasis; Immunoglobulin G; Reperfusion Injury; Animals; Humans; Pharmacology (medical); Colorectal Neoplasms; Molecular Biology

Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) often develop liver metastases, in which case surgery is considered the only potentially curative treatment option. However, liver surgery is associated with a risk of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, which is thought to promote the growth of colorectal liver metastases. The influence of IR-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) elevation in the process still is unknown. To investigate the role of TNF-α in the growth of pre-existing micrometastases in the liver following IR, we used a mouse model of colorectal liver metastases. In this model, mice received IR treatment seven days after intrasplenic injections of colorectal CT26 cells. Prior to IR treatment, either TNF-α blocker Enbrel or low-dose TNF-α, which could inhibit IR-induced TNF-α elevation, was administered by intraperitoneal injection.Hepatic IR treatment significantly promoted CT26 tumor growth in the liver, but either Enbrel or low-dose TNF-α pretreatment reversed this trend. Further studies showed that the CT26 + IR group prominently increased the levels of ALT and AST, liver necrosis, inflammatory infiltration and the expressions of hepatic IL-6, MMP9 and E-selectin compared to those of CT26 group. Inhibition of TNF-α elevation remarkably attenuated the increases of these liver inflammatory damage indicators and tumor-promoting factors.These findings suggested that inhibition of TNF-α elevation delayed the IR-enhanced outgrowth of colorectal liver metastases by reducing IR-induced inflammatory damage and the formation of tumor-promoting microenvironments. Both Enbrel and low-dose TNF-α represented the potential therapeutic approaches for the protection of colorectal liver metastatic patients against IR injury-induced growth of liver micrometastases foci.