APRIL is a member of the TNF family. While transcripts of APRIL are of low abundance in normal tissues, high levels of mRNA are detected in transformed cell lines, and in human cancers of the colon, thyroid, and lymphoid tissues in vivo. The addition of recombinant APRIL to various tumor cells stimulates their proliferation. Moreover, APRIL-transfected
NIH 3T3 cells show an increased rate of tumor growth in nude mice when compared with the parental cell line. The receptor of APRIL is currently unknown. APRIL may be implicated in the regulation of tumor cell growth.