TLR9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In a rabbit VX2 hepatoma model, it was found that combined RFA and Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist stimulation not only induced increased antitumour T-cell stimulation/cytotoxicity and a longer mean survival of animals but also significantly inhibited tumour spread to the lungs and peritoneum and prohibited new tumour growth in animals receiving a secondary systemic tumour cell injection [20].