Arcobacter butzleri causes sporadic cases of gastroenteritis, but the underlying immunopathological mechanisms of infection are unknown. We have recently demonstrated that A. butzleri-infected gnotobiotic IL-10(-/-) mice were clinically unaffected but exhibited intestinal and systemic inflammatory immune responses. For the first time, we here investigated the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4,...

The mechanism by which indigenous bacteria on the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) of lymphatic follicles (LFs) accelerate the differentiation of microvillous columnar epithelial cells (MV) into M-cells was immunohistochemically investigated in rat Peyer's patches. The results showed that the number of Toll-like receptor (TLR) -4+ M-cells was greater in the FAE with expansion of bacterial c...

Interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK-4) was reported to be essential for the Toll-like receptor (TLR)- and T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated signaling leading to the activation of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB). However, the importance of kinase activity of IRAK family members is unclear. In this study, we investigated the functional role of IRAK-4 activity in vivo by generating mic...

Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) is one of the most common fungal pathogens of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), which may be life threatening in immunocompromised individuals. The dendritic cell-associated C-type lectin receptor (Dectin-1), toll‑like receptor (TLR)-2 and TLR-4 are major pattern recognition receptors in alveolar macrophages that recognize A. fumigatus components. The ...

Low molecular weight fragmentation products of the polysaccharide of Hyaluronic acid (sHA) produced during inflammation have been shown to be potent activators of immunocompetent cells such as dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages. Here we report that sHA induces maturation of DCs via the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, a receptor complex associated with innate immunity and host defense against bac...

Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) has been observed to promote hypertension, but the mechanisms are unclear. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) is a cellular membrane protein that is ubiquitously expressed in all cell types of the vasculature. TLR-4 activation has been known to promote inflammation that has been associated with the pathogenesis of hypertension. In this study we hypothesize that HHcy induce...