TNF and atherosclerosis: Jia et al. revealed that significant TNF-α-mediated downregulation of VCAM1 and IL-1β in mouse ECs reduced turbulent blood flow and the progression of atherosclerotic lesions in atherosclerotic mice, and they validated this finding in human umbilical vein ECs and human aortic ECs [98],Similarly, Yang et al. found that TNF-α-induced MMP -9 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression contribute to atherosclerosis [99].