TNF and systemic lupus erythematosus: Studies have shown that artemisinin can alleviate the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the plasma of mice with systemic lupus erythematosus and inhibit the activities of nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF-κB) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the kidney (Wu et al., 2010).