TNF and Hepatic fibrosis: In our infection model, the following indirect evidence suggests that TLR4 signaling is possibly MyD88-dependent: there is a significant increase of the expression levels of the TLR4/MyD88-dependent effector cytokine genes, Tnf, and Il1ß at week 6 when liver fibrosis is acute and then at week 8 when liver fibrosis is advanced after Sj infection.