TLR4 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Using the whole blood assay to preserve physiological environment and avoid possible artificial stimulation of monocytes, Khondkaryan et al. evaluate the expression of TLR-2 and TLR-4 on the total monocyte surface in culture from the whole blood and report significantly reduced TLR-4 expression in unstimulated T2DM monocytes compared to respective cells from healthy donors [21].