Higher numbers of macrophages were found in the livers of infected WT and TLR7 KO mice, which expressed higher levels of CD86 and secreted more IL-4, IL-10, and IL-12, suggesting that macrophages played an important role in the progression of S. japonicum infection-induced hepatitis, as previously reported (Tan et al., 2019; Ye et al., 2020). The gene discussed is TLR7; the disease is hepatitis A virus infection.