TNF and immune system disorder: As these cytokines are known to cause oxidative DNA damage and DNA strand breaks in multiple cell types during the pathogenesis of various immune disorders (Yang et al. 2019; Collins et al. 2020; Pereira-Lopes et al. 2015), we propose that aberrant cytoplasmic DAMPs (especially dsDNA) triggered by TNF-α or IFN-γ may initiate TFCs' pyroptosis during HT progression and be sensed by NLRP3 or AIM2 directly or indirectly.