TNF and infection: HMGB1, a nuclear damage-associated molecular pattern protein, is released from damaged and necrotic cells at the site of infection, acting as an alarmin; it triggers inflammatory cascades via Toll-like receptor and receptor for advanced glycation end-products pathways, stimulates the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 from macrophages, enhances neutrophil recruitment, and sustains local inflammation through the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps [9,16,17,18].