On May 19, 2021, Megan A. Cooper, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues announced they had identified a rare immune condition caused by a mutation in a gene known as TLR8 that plays a fundamental role in activating the immune system to fight viruses such as influenza. However, with this disorder, TLR8 is too active, causing inflammation as well as malfunctions in multiple parts of the immune system.

Research from the first six known cases of TLR8-associated immunodeficiency, was published in the print edition of Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.