TNF and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Recent studies revealed that increased salt (sodium chloride) intake augments the activity of TH17 cells via the p38/MAPK pathway and serum/glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) [18] that results in upregulation of GM-CSF, TNF-α and IL-2 levels, which are all pro-inflammatory cytokines that may account for the pro-inflammatory status seen in HTN and T2DM.