According to other reports, TNF-α -238 promoter polymorphism seems to be associated with attenuated susceptibility to various cancers, including gastric carcinoma, uterine cervical carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma and lung cancer (Jang et al., 2001; Pan et al., 2012; Shih et al., 2006). Here, TNF is linked to renal cell carcinoma.