At first glance, the fact that TNF ablation corrected the inflammatory phenotype that characterises cpdm mice may not seem overly surprising, given that inhibition of TNF has been proven to be a highly successful therapeutic approach for the treatment of several chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease 196, 197, 198. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is autoimmune disease.