TNF and Sepsis: Studies by Wheeler et al. (54) and He et al. (55) in children with severe sepsis have shown a significant increase in the levels of eHsp-70, TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-13, IL-27, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, and matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) in blood and plasma (54, 56).