TNF and disease arising from reactivation of latent virus: TGF-β is an immunosuppressive factor that inhibits T-cell activation as well as the expression and secretion of several of their cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-γ (IFN-γ).[16] This study investigates the impact of T-cell activation on the expression levels of HCMV lncRNA4.9, TGF-β, and various cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ, etc) during HCMV latent infection.