A study by our group in patients with RA treated with anti-TNF showed that the increase in circulating Th17 cells up to 12 weeks on anti-TNF was accompanied by an increase in IL12/23p40 production in supernatants from PBMC stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and also in the plasma layer of whole blood stimulated with LPS [25]. This evidence concerns the gene TNF and rheumatoid arthritis.