Serum LPS levels, shown to increase throughout the time course of liver disease (Fig. 5a), were found to be negatively correlated with Tlr4 (R = − 0.97, P = 0.033) and Myd88 (R = − 0.71, P = 0.041) (Fig. 7); genes which are well established to be involved in macrophage mediated LPS immunotolerance. Here, TLR4 is linked to liver disorder.