TLR3 and arthritic joint disease: In a previous study, we found that TLR3 is the earliest and most prominently upregulated TLR in splenic macrophages by screening the TLR expression profile in pristane-induced arthritis (PIA), a MHC class II-restricted and T-cell-dependent arthritis rat model, and that downregulation of TLR3 expression modulates the severity of arthritis [24].