In SLE, relevant factors directly influencing the development of atherosclerosis and CVD include immune-complex formation, complement activation and altered expression and activity of numerous cytokines and chemokines (i.e., B lymphocyte stimulator -BLyS-, type I and II interferons, migration macrophage inhibitor -MIF-, IL-6, IL-17 and TNFα [7,204,205,206,207,208,209,210,211,212,213,214]). This evidence concerns the gene TNF and atherosclerosis.