TNF and atherosclerosis: TNF-α is a good marker of subclinical atherosclerosis in r-axSpA [43], inasmuch as it favors not only the expression of IL-1β, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1, molecules involved in the leukocyte recruitment and the perpetuation of the inflammation and atherogenesis, but also the accumulation of apoptotic cells [44,45].