Anti-TLR4 therapy has been suggested as a prophylactic for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), but a recent study demonstrated that secretions from the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis, often used to treat NEC, attenuate IL-1β-induced IL-6 in a TLR4-dependent manner in a human fetal small intestinal epithelial cell line (H4 cells) and primary NEC enterocytes (150). This evidence concerns the gene TLR4 and necrotizing enterocolitis.