title: Expression of Toll-like receptors and their association with cytokine responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of children with acute rotavirus diarrhoea.
abstract: To understand virus and host interactions and host responses to rotavirus infection in children, we analysed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the expression of mRNA for five Toll-like receptors (TLRs) (TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7 and TLR8) and four T helper (Th)1 and Th2 cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, interferon (IFN)-gamma and IL-4) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of children with acute rotavirus diarrhoea. We observed significantly higher expression of genes encoding TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7 and TLR8 in PBMC of 41% (31/75) patients within 3 days of illness onset than those in healthy children. After 3 days of illness onset, only TLR3 and TLR8 mRNA expressions were still significantly (P<0.05) increased in 59% (44/75) children with diarrhoea. We also observed significantly (P<0.05) elevated expression of IL-12p40 and IFN-gamma in PBMC of patients during the entire period of illness and the first 3 days of illness, respectively. We further demonstrated a weak but significant association between elevated levels of gene expression of four TLRs (TLR2, TLR3, TLR4 and TLR8) and IFN-gamma. Our results suggest that multiple TLRs may modulate the immune response in the acute phase of rotavirus infection and play a role in the activation of IFN-gamma.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Institute, Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. janexu125@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors