As IL-6 and TNF-α are critical for pathogen clearance by enhancing the functions of phagocytes [31, 32] and by promoting the expression of antimicrobial peptides [33], we next further assessed whether enhanced IL-6 and TNF-α production in resident pMΦs of mice having administered with piperine conferred resistance to bacterial infection and septic shock. Here, TNF is linked to bacterial infectious disease.