The increased urinary TNF-α concentrations found amongst the IC/BPS-HL cohort builds upon previous findings which describe significantly elevated levels of TNF-α in the sera of patients with IC/BPS and identify the cytokine as a possible mediator of bladder urothelium apoptosis, which is observed in IC/BPS [26, 27]. Here, TNF is linked to Bartsocas-Papas syndrome 1.