TNF and myocardial infarction: Moreover, other ligands involved in inflammation and cardiac repair, such as TNF-α and TGF-β, respectively, are also elevated after MI and play important roles in myocardial remodeling and fibrosis1.Collectively, these ligands are capable of triggering inflammatory (NF-κB), stress kinase (p38, JNK), or Smad pathway activation (Fig. 1a).