title: Understanding the expression of Toll-like receptors in Asian Indians predisposed to coronary artery disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are an important link between innate and adaptive immunity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression of TLR-2, TLR-4, and TLR-9 genes was assessed in 60 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and 79 controls by SYBR Green 1 based real time PCR assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression of the TLR-2 gene was found to be significantly elevated in cases (1.295 ±0.09) compared to the controls (1.033 ±0.08) (p = 0.015) whereas expression of the TLR-9 gene was significantly lower in cases (1.522 ±0.18) than in the controls (2.165 ±0.16) (p = 0.032). There was no difference in TLR-4 expression levels (p = 0.174). A significant correlation of TLR-2 was observed with TLR-4 (r = 0.803, p<0.0001) and TLR-9 (r = 0.264, p = 0.003) as well as between TLR-4 and TLR-9 (r = 0.303, p = 0.001). A significant association was seen between TLR 2 (OR 3.94, 95% CI 1.73-8.99, p = 0.001) and TLR-9 (OR 0.297, 95% CI 0.131-0.672, p = 0.004) with CAD after adjustment for age and gender. Statins did not affect TLR gene expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The TLR-2, TLR-4 and TLR-9 genes exhibit a differential pattern of expression between CAD patients and controls in this Asian Indian cohort. This observation warrants further investigation, keeping in mind the infectious and inflammatory elements in perspective, in order to understand the true implications of TLR in the aetiopathology of CAD and consequent therapeutic implications.
authors.affiliation: Thrombosis Research Institute, India.
authors.forename: Arindam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maitra
authors.forename: Jayashree
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shanker
authors.forename: Debabrata
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dash
authors.forename: Prathima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arvind
authors.forename: Vijay V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kakkar