TNF and nephritis: Furthermore, before developing nephritis, the amount of linear ubiquitin increased markedly, as did transcripts of NF-κB target genes such as A20 and TNF-α, in the kidneys of HOIL-1LΔRING1/ΔRING1 and HOIL-1LΔRING1/+ female mice from as early as 3 months of age (Figure 3, D and E), suggesting that these phenomena underlie the pathogenesis of nephritis.