TNF and intestinal neoplasm: Moreover, Kostic et al. have previously identified that F. nucleatum could shape a proinflammatory microenvironment that is conducive for intestinal tumorigenesis, and proinflammatory genes such as Ptgs2 (COX-2 mouse homolog), Scyb1 (IL-8 mouse homolog), IL-6, TNF-a, and MMP-3 were more highly expressed in intestinal tumors from mice that were treated with F. nucleatum, which involved the activation of NF-kB signaling.