TNF and acute respiratory distress syndrome: Similarly, we showed that in PBEC-ALI, DEP exposure induced NF-κB activation and promoted inflammatory effects by upregulation of CXCL8 and TNFα. However, in PBEC-ALI/MQ, macrophages were polarized to an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype displaying an impaired NF-κB activation, which may increase immunosuppressive capacity.