Whilst TLR7, TLR9, TLR10 (Fig. 6e–g), TLR2, TLR5, and TLR6 (Supplementary Fig. 7c–e) were markedly decreased by up to 86% in each of the regions of the acute NEC specimens, TLR4 (twofold, Fig. 6h) and TLR8 (sixfold, Fig. 6i) were increased particularly in the necrotic NEC sections compared to the Control and Recovered groups. Here, TLR7 is linked to necrotizing enterocolitis.