The review considers the main points of the concept of progressive chronic heart failure (CHF). The neurohumoral model of CHF pathogenesis could create novel approaches to treating these patients. However, recent studies have shown that the ways of activating the neurohumoral systems in CHF are much more complex. The increased local synthesis of hormones causes the activation of proinflammatory cytokines and proto-oncogenes, which have a number of negative effects. Multiple studies have formulated the immunoinflammatory concept of CHF pathogenesis, according to which the increased concentration of interleukin-6 is a marker of poor prognosis in CHF, and the level of tumor necrosis factor-α directly correlates with the severity of its clinical manifestations and the activity of the neurohumoral background in decompensation. The review gives a classification of cytokines and describes the reasons for their elevated plasma concentration, their possible role in the occurrence and progression of CHF, and their prognostic significance. The pathogenesis of CHF, which includes cytokine aggression, requires further studies of the effect of the inflammatory component on the course of heart failure.