Expression profiles and function of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chronic hepatitis B patients

Zhiao Chen, Yuming Cheng, Yongfen Xu, Jing Liao, Xiaonan Zhang, Yunwen Hu, Qin Zhang, Jiefei Wang, Zhanqing Zhang, Fang Shen, Zhenghong Yuan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

138 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a central role in sensing and initiating innate antiviral response. In this study, we first investigated the expression of TLR1-10 mRNA transcripts in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from chronic HBV-infected (CHB) patients and healthy donors by quantitative real-time PCR. The expression of TLR1, TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6 transcripts was significantly lower in PBMCs from CHB patients, and the down-regulation of TLR2 was related to HBV genotype C. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the expression of TLR2 on PBMCs was significantly decreased in CHB patients. Furthermore, impaired cytokine production was observed in PBMCs from CHB patients after challenged with TLR2 and TLR4 ligands and was correlated with the levels of plasma hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). In conclusion, our study reveals a possible interaction between HBsAg, TLR signaling and the innate immune response, which may partially explain the mechanism of HBV infection induced immuno-tolerance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)400-408
Number of pages9
JournalClinical Immunology and Immunopathology
Volume128
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2008
Externally publishedYes

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