A recent study in an animal model reproducing surgical stress of hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer reported that NETs formation from mouse neutrophils was associated with High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) release and activation of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9)-dependent pathways in cancer cells promoting adhesion, proliferation, migration and invasion [7]. The gene discussed is TLR9; the disease is metastatic colorectal cancer.