TNF and rheumatoid arthritis: However, it is also worth mentioning that there are other systemic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, and psoriasis that can drive up systemic cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-α (including acute phase reactants like CRP), which, in turn, promotes, endothelial dysfunction and atherogenesis and plaque formation [48,57].