TNF and Alzheimer disease: Because of metabolic pathology, this chronic inflammatory state leads to a vicious cycle in which microglia, rather than removing pathology, become a site of neurotoxicity, generating pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β) and further contributing to synaptic loss and neuronal damage, ultimately speeding up the progression of AD disease (Valiukas et al. 2025).