TNF and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: This finding is in concordance with some previous studies: (1) elevated level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) is unfavorable for the survival of NPC patients [53], (2) TNFα treatment was shown to increase the expression of the β-catenin protein in nucleus pulposus cells [54], and (3) TNFα has been recently shown to suppress the expression of miR-134-5p in human airway epithelial cells [55].