TNF and arthritic joint disease: Figure 3C shows that the IT p38 inhibitor significantly decreased synovial IL-1 (p = 0.025) and IL-6 (p = 0.006) mRNA in arthritis and there was a trend toward a decrease in TNFα mRNA (p = 0.089). Furthermore, expression of a key gene involved with extracellular matrix degradation (MMP3) was also decreased (p = 0.001; Figure 3D).