TNF and malaria: During blood-stage malaria, degranulation of Granzyme B, perforin, and exacerbated levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and INF-γ are involved with the damage to the blood–brain barrier (Grau et al., 1991; Boubou et al., 1999; Engwerda et al., 2002; Nitcheu et al., 2003; Potter et al., 2006; Suidan et al., 2008; Claser et al., 2011; Haque et al., 2011; Shaw et al., 2015).