TLR4 and rheumatoid arthritis: The current investigations were therefore designed to test the following hypotheses: 1) antagonism of TLR4 with eritoran (E5564) inhibits the expression of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules in human endothelial cells; and 2) the presence of the Asp299Gly TLR4 polymorphism is associated with better endothelium-dependent vasodilation compared with the wild type genotype in patients with RA.