TNF and myelodysplastic syndrome: To investigate possible roles of the above in the pathophysiology of MDS, we measured the percentages of peripheral Th22, Th17, Th1, mRNA expression levels of RORC, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-23 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as well as cytokine level of IL-22 or IL-17 in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM), and evaluated their relevance.