TNF and Obesity: Consistent with this finding, levels of gene expression for monocyte chemo-attractant protein 1 (mcp1), the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor (tnf) and interleukin 1β (il1b), plus the anti-inflammatory cytokine il10, were all significantly higher following 12 weeks of HFD (Figure 5c–f), emphasizing the potent pro-inflammatory environment in adipose tissue induced by obesity.