Pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), cause injury and apoptosis of endothelial and epithelial cells in the pathogenesis of ALI, thereby damaging the alveolar-capillary barrier (Tu et al., 2021). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.