Helper T lymphocytes (Th) 17 are capable of promoting tumour angiogenesis through the production of pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic mediators, such as IL17, IL-8 and TNF-a (Kryczek et al., 2009; Su et al., 2010), while the tumour microenvironment also mediates Th17 cell chemotaxis and accumulation at the tumour site (Miyahara et al., 2008; Zou and Restifo, 2010; Ye et al., 2013). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is neoplasm.