TNF and Cowden disease: Moreover, it has been shown that M. stadtmanae can induce the strong response by secreting the proinflammatory cytokine TNF in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.29 Considering a study conducted by Bang et al. which demonstrated that human immune cells stimulated by M. stadtmanae activated the release of high level of TNF-α and interleukin 1β, it can be concluded that archaea have great immunogenic potential, which may play a significant role in CD.