OBJECTIVE In patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, the changes in insulin resistance are associated with the changes in expression of genes involved in nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). As such studies have never been carried out in patients with gestational diabetes (GDM), in this study, we evaluated the expression of genes involved in NF-...

We recently demonstrated that the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), TLR4, and CD14 are expressed in mouse colonic epithelium in a compartmentalized manner. Here we report the localization of TLR5, the receptor for bacterial flagellin, and its distinctive down-regulation during experimental colitis. Guts from normal BALB/c mice and those with dextran sodium sulfat...

Background While the beneficial effects of topical epidermal growth factor (EGF) on wound healing have been repeatedly reported, there are few reports about the effects of EGF on inflammatory skin diseases including acne. Objective To clarify the effects of EGF on acne, it was investigated whether recombinant human EGF (rhEGF) signalling can affect Propionibacterium acnes-induced cytokine exp...

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, which is triggered by lipid retention. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is a novel target for therapeutic intervention in atherosclerosis. In addition, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) serves important roles in stress response and inflammation. The present study investigated whether TLR2 is involved in the activation of cholesterol efflux in macrophages by...

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a Gram-positive cell surface molecule that is found in both a cell-bound form and cell-free form in the host during an infection. Hemoglobin (Hb) can synergize with LTA, a TLR2 ligand, to potently activate macrophage innate immune responses in a TLR2- and TLR4-dependent way. At low levels of LTA, the presence of Hb can result in a 200-fold increase in the secretion of...

Background: The innate immune system is our first line of defense against invading pathogens. Toll–like receptors (TLRs) have been identified as a key role in mediating the function of innate immune system which bridges the gap between innate and adaptive immunity. For example, TLR2 is able to act as a homodimer to recognize lipoteichoic acids of Gram-positive bacteria but as a heterodimer with...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Bacteroides fragilis (BF) are Gram-negative anaerobe symbionts present in the colon. Recent studies have reported the beneficial role of BF in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, stimulating host immunologic development, and preventing infectious colitis caused by pathogenic bacteria. Our previous studies showed that monocolonization of germ-free mice with BF significantly r...

Tobacco smoking has been associated with impaired pulmonary functions and increased incidence of infections; however, mechanisms that underlie these phenomena are poorly understood. In this study, we examined whether smokers' alveolar macrophages (AM) exhibit impaired sensing of bacterial components via TLR2 and TLR4 and determined the effect of smoking on expression levels of TLR2, TLR4 and co...

Voriconazole (VRC) has activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, the most frequent cause of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. The combination of VRC and A. fumigatus hyphae induced a more pronounced profile of expression of genes encoding inflammatory molecules in human monocytes than Aspergillus alone did. Herein, we provide further evidence of the potential mechanism underly...

Intra-cerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a particularly severe type of stroke accounting for 10–15 % of all strokes and is associated with a mortality rate of 30–50%. Neuroinflammation contributes to ICH-induced secondary brain injury and understanding the mechanisms causing neuroinflammation can be helpful to find new treatments of ICH. Recent studies demonstrated that toll like receptor...