In addition, IL-6 and TNF-α can mediate the activation of T cells and B cells to produce granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which promotes the proliferation and activation of monocytes to further induce the high expression of IL-6, which can accelerate the pro-inflammatory response after bacterial infection, resulting in an cytokine storm. Here, TNF is linked to bacterial infectious disease.