TNF and rheumatoid arthritis: By experimentally overexpressing KLF4 or using KLF4 siRNA to downregulate KLF4 expression in RA FLSs, we found that expression of both IL-6 mRNA and protein was significantly upregulated after KLF4 overexpression and downregulated after KLF4 knockdown in the presence or absence of TNF-α.