Intra-arterial administration of TNF-alpha followed by arterial ablation is an effective therapy for a regionally confined TNF-resistant rat mammary adenocarcinoma.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is an immunomodulatory cytokine that has exhibited anti-tumor activity in a variety of experimental systems. However, the toxicities associated with systemic administration of TNF-alpha have limited its clinical utility and have led to the investigation of targeted delivery techniques with the ability to present the TNF-alpha dose directly to the vascular bed of the tumor. The intra-arterial (IA) administration of TNF-alpha to patients with liver metastases represents one such approach, and recent work suggests that subsequent ablation of the tumor's arterial supply via embolization may enhance the efficacy of intra-arterial treatments (hepatic chemoembolization).