As expected, most of these genes were inflammatory markers including chemokine ligands and interacting proteins (CCL2, CCL3, CCL20, CXCL1, CXCL2, TNFAIP6), cytokines (CSF3, IL1B, TNF), proteins important in regulating the toll-like receptor (TLR) mediated innate immune response (CEBPD, MAP3K8, NFKBIZ) and other proteins (PIM2, SOD2, UPP1), supporting the concept that of one or more circulating factors present in the sera of patients with FSGS is responsible for the activation of inflammatory pathways. Here, TNF is linked to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.