TNF and atherosclerosis: Moreover, the treatment of the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) with PGC1a dependent myokines, including irisin and β-aminoisobutyric acid, inhibits the expression of VCAM-1 gene and protein induced by tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a; Shimba et al., 2019), indicating that irisin is involved in the protective effect of atherosclerosis.