TNF and chronic atrophic gastritis: H. pylori infection stimulates the production and release of proinflammatory factors (Outlioua et al., 2020): gastric mucosal interleukin (IL)-8 level was correlated with the severity of the H. pylori-induced atrophic gastritis (Xuan et al., 2005; Lee K.E. et al., 2013); serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α level was found to be related to the degree of chronic inflammation and neutrophil infiltration (Siregar et al., 2015); and serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level was linked to the severity of gastric lesions in patients with gastritis (Siregar et al., 2015).