TNF and infection: To explore the function of circulatory proinflammatory cytokines and identify its relationship with the patient’s current infection status and the role of S. haematobium chronic inflammation in BCa, the plasma cytokine levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were measured in both patients and control group A. The cytokine titers for IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were higher, up to fourfold, in patients than in controls (Table 7).