To mimic such a state, we first treated MDMs with either 10 ng/mL or 100 ng/mL of the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 h prior to infection; in parallel, we treated other wells of MDMs with either 10 ng/mL or 100 ng/mL of IFN-α. Here, TLR4 is linked to infection.