Abstract
This study tested the effect of TNF-α, a cytokine associated with inflammation, and tumor progression, on enhancing doxorubicin (Dox) tumor accumulation, and improving its therapeutic effect.
4T1 murine breast cancer cells were injected into the flanks of Balb/c female mice and treated with TNF-α, Dox and a combination of both.
The addition of TNF-α to Dox did not improve anticancer activity against 4T1 breast cancer cells in vitro. In 4T1 tumor-bearing mice, the pretreatment with TNF-α increased tumor Dox concentration. The accumulation of Dox was even higher when systemically injected with a micellar formulation of Dox. This work provides a rationale for testing the combination on breast cancer patients.