TNF and rheumatoid arthritis: On the other hand, Carvalho et al. [34] showed that phytol inhibits the release of the inflammatory mediators TNF-α, IL-6, and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) in complete Freund’s adjuvant–induced rheumatoid arthritis by inhibiting the activation of the p65 pathway of NF-κB through dephosphorylation/inhibition of p38 [34].