An antiserum to tumour angiogenesis factor: therapeutic approach to solid tumours.

Tumour angiogenesis factor (TAF) was extracted from mouse mammary adenocarcinoma (mma) and various human tumours. Its ability to induce neovascularisation was demonstrated using the mouse intradermal and the chick chorioallantoic membrane assays. Similar extracts from normal tissues fail to induce angiogenesis. TAF purified from mma was used to raise antiserum in the rabbit. The specificity was determined by single radial immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. The antiserum neutralised biological activity of TAF, as shown by the bioassays, and also caused tumour regression in mice. A potential therapeutic approach to solid malignancies has been implicated.