The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) expression and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in colorectal carcinoma by detecting the expression of IE1–72, TLR2, TLR4 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in colorectal carcinoma and colon adenoma samples, as well as by analyzing the mRNA levels of the proteins in colon cancer cell lines, following HCMV infection. Here, TNF is linked to colorectal carcinoma.