TLR9 and hematocrit: As shown in Figure 6A, the TNF-α expression in AITD patients, including GD and HT patients, were found to be significantly higher than those for control subjects when stimulated with either Poly I:C (TLR3) or CpG ODN (TLR9) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.01 for Poly I:C and CpG ODN, respectively).