TNF and pulmonary fibrosis: Although we did not identify differences in TNF mRNA expression considering the three rs8259T>A genotypes, we know that TNF is a cytokine that mediates inflammation and can cause detrimental tissue damage, that it promotes lung fibrosis, which later results in pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and acute respiratory distress syndrome, that it promotes inflammation and that it is associated with morbidity and mortality in patients with COVID-19 [26].