TNF and infection: When assayed 24 hours post-operatively, lower mRNA levels of TNFα (P = 0.03), IL-12 (P = 0.02), T bet (P = 0.04), IL-23 (P = 0.02), RORγt (P = 0.05) and FOXP3 (P = 0.02) were also associated with the subsequent development of an infection (Fig 3C–3H).