TNF and leprosy: Some authors have demonstrated increased TNF-α production related to TNF −308 A allele carriers in LPS stimulated PBMC and whole blood cultures of leprosy patients after LPS and M. leprae stimulation and of paracoccidioidomycosis patients, while others failed to show any effect of this SNP on TNF-α production after LPS stimulation in vivo or in vitro, in HCV patients and in tuberculosis patients [19, 44–50].