OBJECTIVE The intracellular bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae is present in many atherosclerotic lesions, where it could promote inflammation. This study determined whether monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) release is stimulated in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) that are exposed to or infected by C pneumoniae and whether toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) or TLR4 mediate these effects. M...

BACKGROUND Dysregulation of innate immune response by Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) is a key feature in Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Most studies have focused on TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4 participation in UC. However, few studies have explored other TLRs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the mRNA profiles of TLR1 to 9 in colonic mucosa of UC patients, according to disease activity. METHOD...

Pattern recognition receptors (PRR), Toll-like receptors (TLR), and nucleotide-oligomerization domain-containing proteins (NOD) play critical roles in mediating inflammation and modulating functions in white adipocytes in obesity. However, the role of PRR activation in brown adipocytes, which are recently found to be present in adult humans, has not been studied. Here we report that mRNA of TLR...

OBJECTIVE It has been reported that inflammation of lung could be induced by proinflammatory factor under hyperoxia, which may be attributed by increasing generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present study, with human epithelial lung cancer cell line A549 treated with hyperoxia as in vitro model, we found that hyperoxia stimulation induced TLR2/4 activity ...

Microglial cells are the pathologic sensor of the brain, and any pathologic event triggers microglial activation, which involves migration of these cells to a lesion site. Employing different migration assays, we show that ligands for toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 stimulate random motility, while TLR7 ligands are chemoattractants. The subtype specificity of the TLR ligands was verified by using di...

We previously reported that Toll-like receptor-2 (TLR2) agonists induce expression of a more limited repertoire of pro-inflammatory genes than TLR4 agonists. Murine macrophages stimulated with the TLR4 agonist, Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide, induced signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 ('STAT1') tyrosine phosphorylation that was secondary to the autocrine/paracrine action of...

Purpose Fusarium solani (F. solani) keratitis is a potentially sight-threatening fungal infection of the cornea. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), such as human β-defensins (hBDs) and cathelicidins, essential components of the immune system, likely have a protective role against F. solani keratitis. We examined the role of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), Dectin-1, and TLR2 in F. solani-induc...

BACKGROUND Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are essential in host defense against pathogens by virtue of their capacity to detect microbes and initiate the immune response. TLR2 is seen as the most important receptor for gram-positive bacteria, while TLR4 is regarded as the gram-negative TLR. Melioidosis is a severe infection caused by the gram-negative bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei, that is e...

We investigated the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 in maintaining the integrity of the airway epithelial barrier using the human bronchial epithelial cell line Calu-3. Activation of TLR2 by its ligands, Pam3CysSK4 and Peptidoglycan showed a concentration dependent increase in epithelial barrier function, as measured by transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER). This was confirmed by a de...

The human beta-defensin 3 (hBD-3) is an inducible epithelial peptide antibiotic that has potent antistaphylococcal activity. Infection of skin epithelial cells with viable Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin pathogen, induces increased gene expression of hBD-3 and other antimicrobial peptides. The aim of this study was to identify signaling pathways and nuclear responses that contribute to the...