Under the influence of lifelong exposure to chronic antigenic load and oxidative stress during aging, a variety of cytokines, including interleukin 6 (IL‐6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α), and interleukin 1 (IL‐1), are elevated and play direct roles in the pathogenesis of age‐related diseases, including atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes (Bruunsgaard, 2002; Ferrucci & Fabbri, 2018; Sarkar & Fisher, 2006; Yuan et al., 2019). Here, TNF is linked to atherosclerosis.