TNF and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: In CRC patients, Factor 1, comprising key Th1/Th17 cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-15, IL-17A, FGF-B, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and VEGF), reflecting pro-inflammatory and cell-mediated immune signaling, correlated with lymph node metastasis (τ = 0.27; <i>p</i> = 0.03), while Factor 2 showed a trend toward a negative correlation with tumor histological grade (τ = -0.22; <i>p</i> = 0.09).