While several inflammatory mediators (IL-6, TNF-α, TWEAK, TRAF6, INF-γ, and LIF) have been implicated as drivers of cancer-associated wasting, very little is known about their origin, whether skeletal muscle, immune cell, or tumor-derived (Flint et al., 2016; Jackman et al., 2017). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is cancer.