TNF and Alzheimer disease: Compared to microvessels from age-matched controls, AD brain microvessels release significantly higher levels of a number of inflammatory factors including nitric oxide (NO), thrombin, TNF-α, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), IL, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and MMPs (Grammas et al., 2006, 2011; Thirumangalakudi et al., 2006).