In patients with rhinovirus-induced COPD exacerbations, there were significant correlations between peak postinfection sputum glucose concentrations and peak sputum inflammatory cell counts (P = .013, r = 0.57), sputum IL-β levels (P < .0001, r = 0.87), IL-8 levels (P = .0018, r = 0.73), and TNF levels (P = .0018, r = 0.73). Here, TNF is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.