TLR9 and esophageal cancer: Moreover, patients with esophageal cancer and lymph node metastases had higher TLR-4 levels in tumor tissues, and in the subgroup with esophageal-gastric junction adenocarcinoma, significantly higher expression of TLR-7 mRNA and TLR-4, TLR-7, and TLR-9 proteins was observed [47].