MYD88 and steatosis: In contrast, IOE-infected MyD88-/- mice had significantly attenuated liver injury at the same time point, as marked by significantly decreased TUNEL positive and necrotic (shown by H&E staining) hepatocytes and Kupffer cells, reduced magnitude of fatty changes/steatosis (a hallmark of ehrlichial hepatocyte infection)[3, 23, 24] (Fig 1C), as well as decreased serum level of aspartate transaminases (AST) levels when compared to infected WT mice (Fig 1D).