TNF and Anxiety: Pro-inflammatory cytokines like interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been implicated in promoting anxiety-like behaviours (Gosselin and Rivest, 2007, McAfoose and Baune, 2009, Wang and Shuaib, 2002, Rossi et al., 2012).