TNF and asthma: Therapies in the form of neutralizing antibodies against both IL-6 and TNFα have proven effective in mice against M. catarrhalis-caused asthma exacerbations, but IFNs have not been studied as M. catarrhalis efficiently down-regulates TLR3 in infected cells, resulting in almost complete ablation of IFNβ, IFNλ, and IL-8 secretion (122).