Expression of CD14 and Toll-like receptor 2 in farmers' and non-farmers' children.
Children of farmers are at decreased risk of developing allergies. Results of epidemiological studies suggest increased exposure to microbial compounds might be responsible for this reduced risk. Alterations in adaptive immune response are thought to be the underlying mechanism. We measured expression of receptors for microbial compounds known to trigger the innate immune response. We showed that blood cells from farmers' children express significantly higher amounts of CD14 (0.96 vs 0.43, p=0.0013), and Toll-like receptor 2 (0.11 vs 0.04, p<0.0001) than those from non-farmers' children. We propose that the innate immune system responds to the microbial burden in the environment and modulates the development of allergic disease.
Lauener
Roger P
RP
Zurich University Children's Hospital, CH-8032 Zürich, Switzerland. rlauener@kispi.unizh.ch
Birchler
Thomas
T
Adamski
Jill
J
Braun-Fahrländer
Charlotte
C
Bufe
Albrecht
A
Herz
Udo
U
von Mutius
Erika
E
Nowak
Dennis
D
Riedler
Josef
J
Waser
Marco
M
Sennhauser
Felix H
FH
D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology; D007110:Immunity, Active; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors / Q000097:blood*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000097:blood*; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C495342:TLR2 protein, human; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors