To assess the kinetics of hepatic IFNα release during the first week of CRC cell injection and to investigate how this process may affect the early stages of tumor development, cohorts of Tie2‐GFP mice (VCN = 2.94 ± 0.19) and Tie2‐IFNα mice (VCN = 0.94 ± 0.10) were euthanized at different times (5 min, day 3 or day 7) after intrasplenic injection of either NaCl or CT26 cells. The gene discussed is TEK; the disease is neoplasm.