Taken together, the central position of TNFα in the plasma protein cluster analysis provides evidence for an involvement of the CD40(L)-TRAF6 pathway in patients with HT and T2DM as comorbidities, which is further supported by the substantial correlations of CD40L and CD40 with a majority of other targets of the low-grade inflammatory cluster (Suppl. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.