After both 4 and 8 hours of infection, many of the up-regulated genes were those that encode pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α) and chemokines (CCR7 and IL-8) (Figure 4), all of which have been implicated in RA and CVD pathogenesis. Here, IL6 is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.