TNF and infection: C-reactive protein (CRP) discovered in 1930 by Tillett and Francis Jr is an acute-phase pattern recognition protein (PRP) considered to be a sensitive biomarker of systemic inflammation, mainly produced by liver hepatocytes, secondary to cytokine stimulation (i.e., IL-6, IL-1β or TNF-α) (113–115) that increases 1,000-10,000-fold at sites of infection or inflammation within 24-72 hours (114, 116–126), from the 0.8 mg/L found in healthy young adult individuals (119).