TNF and varicocele: With respect to controls, the leucocytospermia and varicocele groups showed significantly increased sperm apoptosis (P = 0.009 and P = 0.011, respectively), IL-6 (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.004, respectively), and TNF-α(P = 0.0001 and P = 0.002, respectively) levels (Table 1).