TNF and rheumatoid arthritis: As expected, measures of inflammation, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) concentrations were greater in persons with RA as compared with matched controls (Table 1; P <0.05 for all) while IL-8 was lower (Table 1; P = 0.027).