title: The influence of genetic polymorphisms in TLR4 and TIRAP, and their expression levels in peripheral blood, on susceptibility to sepsis.
abstract: The present study aimed to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms in the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 and Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR)-associated protein (TIRAP) genes, and/or their expression levels, influence the susceptibility of a patient to sepsis. A total of 106 patients with sepsis were divided into two groups on the basis of their acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores: i) Sepsis group A (APACHE II <20) and ii) Sepsis group B (APACHE II >20). In addition, 100 healthy volunteers were enrolled into the control group. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay was used to detect the following genetic polymorphisms: The Ser180Leu allele of the TIRAP gene and the Asp299Gly and Thr399I1e alleles of the TLR4 gene. Furthermore, the protein expression levels of TLR4 and TIRAP were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Genetic polymorphisms were not detected for the TLR4 and TIRAP genes; however, the protein expression levels of TLR4 and TIRAP differed significantly between the control, sepsis A and sepsis B groups (P<0.01). An APACHE II score of 20 was used as a baseline in order to differentiate sepsis severity. Pearson analysis demonstrated that TLR4 and TIRAP protein expression levels were positively correlated with sepsis severity (r=0.931 and 0.972; P<0.05), and TLR4 protein expression levels were positively correlated with those of TIRAP (r=0.936; P<0.05). The results of the present study suggested that the protein expression levels of, but not genetic polymorphisms in, TLR4 and TIRAP were associated with the severity of sepsis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Baotou, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Baotou, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liangshen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Medicine, Ordos Central Hospital, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014010, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
keywords: Toll-like receptor 4; Toll/interleukin-1 receptor-associated protein; genetic polymorphisms; sepsis