TNF and acute respiratory distress syndrome: Central to this inflammatory cascade is the activation of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), a master transcriptional regulator that drives the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α (Yu et al., 2020), which have been identified as prognostic indicators and predictors of mortality in ALI/ARDS patients (Meduri et al., 1995).