TNF-alpha induced DNA damage in primary murine hepatocytes.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, usually arising from a background of chronic inflammatory disease. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced in response to tissue injury, endotoxin exposure or infection and TNF-alpha signalling in hepatocytes is associated with an increase in oxidative stress. DNA is vulnerable to reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced damage, which is highly mutagenic.