TNF and inflammation: Chagas disease patients with ventricular dysfunction show an increase in TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12, IL-6, and IL-10 plasma levels, which act as important biomarkers of heart disease and suggest an association between the synthesis of Th1 and Th2 profile cytokines in serum and local cardiac inflammation (López et al., 2006; Rodríguez-Ângulo et al., 2017).