TNF and neurodegenerative disease: Because activated microglia can produce known neurotoxic substances, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) (Asiimwe et al., 2016; Islam, 2017; Tse, 2017), microglial presence has suggested that immune-mediated neurodegeneration may contribute to disease origin and/or progression in human neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) (op cit above).