At the onset of neurological diseases or injuries, transient TNFα-induced JNK pathway plays a cytoprotective role through TAK1-dependent phosphorylation (Sato et al., 2005), while continuous TNFα-induced JNK signal leads to caspase-dependent apoptosis through JNK phosphorylation by apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) (Tobiume et al., 2001). The gene discussed is MAPK8; the disease is nervous system disorder.