Scientists find hidden trigger that keeps inflammation alive after proteins leave receptors

A Boston Children's Hospital study published in Nature on September 23, 2026, shows signaling proteins must detach from Toll-like receptors to assemble the myddosome, a structure that activates inflammatory genes. Disrupting myddosomes, rather than the receptors, resolved inflammation in mice.

• Protein release from TLRs is required to build the myddosome and switch on inflammatory genes
• Therapies targeting Toll-like receptors themselves have seen little success
• Disrupting myddosomes resolved inflammation in mice in drug experiments
• Findings published in Nature on September 23, 2026