Exposure to air pollutants such as ozone (O(3)) induces airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and airway inflammation. Toll-like receptors (TLR) are first-line effector molecules in innate immunity to infections and signal via adapter proteins, including myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88). We investigated the sensing of ozone by TLR2, TLR4, and MyD88. Ozone induced AHR in wild-type (WT) C57BL...

Neonatal maternal separation (MS) is a major early life stress that increases the risk of emotional disorders, visceral pain perception and other brain dysfunction. Elevation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) precipitates early life colorectal distension (CRD)-induced visceral hypersensitivity and pain in adulthood. The present study aimed to investig...

For several decades, the mouse strains C3H/HeJ and C57BL/10ScNCr have been known to be hyporesponsive to endotoxin or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Recently, mutations in Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 have been shown to underlie this aberrant response to LPS. To further determine the relationship between TLR4 and responsiveness to LPS, we genotyped 18 strains of mice for TLR4 and evaluated the physiol...

Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) is an inducible enzyme responsible for the formation of inflammatory prostanoids such as prostaglandins and thromboxane. Its role in the pathophysiology of inflammatory states like sepsis is increasingly recognized. Recently, we demonstrated that sepsis upregulates the endotoxin receptor Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in rat kidney. Because Cox-2 is one of the downstream p...

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) recognizes specific structural motifs associated with microbial pathogens and also responds to certain endogenous host molecules associated with tissue damage. In Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), inflammation plays an important role in determining the ultimate fate of dystrophic muscle fibers. In this study, we used TLR4-deficient dystrophic mdx mice to assess the ...

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) mediates the response to lipopolysaccharide, and its activation induces the expression of a large number of inflammatory genes, many of which are also induced by other pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Interestingly, the subset of genes that are dependent on TLR4 for optimal expression during gram-negative bacterial infection has not been determined. We have pr...

SETTING: Host genetic risk factors influence the susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB). There is ample evidence supporting the involvement of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in mycobacterial infection. OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between the TLR4 gene and TB susceptibility in Sudanese. DESIGN: A case-control study was conducted by recruiting 207 patients with pulmonary TB and 395 healthy con...

PURPOSE It was previously demonstrated that toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is involved in species-specific human retinal pigment epithelial (HRPE) photoreceptor outer segment recognition and oxidant production. This study was performed to demonstrate the classical role of TLR4 in HRPE endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) binding leading to HRPE proinflammatory cytokine secretion. METHODS Cultured...

Background and Aims: Several studies have shown that host genetic factors can be associated with the risk of developing Helicobacter pylori infections. Therefore, we evaluated the most prevalent toll-like receptors (TLRs) polymorphisms in Helicobacter pylori positive subjects and their possible role in susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infections. Materials and Methods: Using related keywo...

TLR4 ligation by pathogen-associated molecular patterns, such as Gram-negative bacteria-derived LPS, triggers a nonhematopoietic cell-mediated ileus during early endotoxemia. Our objective was to investigate the quantitative contributions of the two downstream signaling pathways of TLR4, namely the adapter proteins myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88) and Toll-IL-1-resistanc...