Infections by viral or bacterial pathogens reactivate CNS-resident immune cells, including microglia and astrocytes, resulting in the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 (Hickman et al., 2018; Giovannoni and Quintana, 2020; Zhang et al., 2023). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is infection.