Function of tumor necrosis factor alpha before and after mutation in gastric cancer

PURPOSE: To explore the cause of functional changes of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in development of gastric cancer through the structural changes of each site in TNF-α before and after mutation. METHODS: Three typical mutant sites (TNF-α-308G/A, 857C/T and 863C/A of TNF-α) were chosen and methods like ab initio modeling was adopted for 3D modeling of TNF-α before and after mutation, besides, the structural changes were also analyzed. RESULTS: Mutation of TNF-α-308G/A led to the production of multiple helical structures and that of 863C/A caused the production of one helical structure in its adjacent region. Mutation of 857C/T, however, did not cause the change in the basic structure of TNF-α. CONCLUSIONS: Structural changes of TNF-α may have a significant effect on development of gastric cancer.