TNF and tuberculosis, spinal: The high expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in spinal tuberculosis lesions was found to be associated with protective immune cells, and an imbalance in the expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) may exacerbate spinal tuberculosis hypersensitivity (Chen et al., 2014).