TNF and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: In ALS patients sera, M1 macrophages produce abundant pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, correlating with disease burden and TNF-α, that sustain disease progression rates and indicate the loss of macrophage-mediated neuroprotection and the predominant neurotoxic pro-inflammatory phenotype of ALS monocytes/macrophages, suggesting that monocytes from ALS patients represent a potential target for immunomodulatory therapy [64].