Expression of Toll-like Receptor 9 in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Patients with Different Hepatitis B and C Viral Loads

• Published in: Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Medical sciences Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 313 - 317
• Main Author: 周健 黄元成 田德英 许东 陈淼 吴会玲
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Huazhong University of Science and Technology 01.06.2009; Department of Infectious Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
• Subjects: Adult; Case-Control Studies; Female; Flow cytometry; Gene expression; HBV; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis B, Chronic - virology; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology; Humans; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - metabolism; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; mRNA; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells; Polymerase chain reaction; Replication; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; TLR9 protein; Toll-Like Receptor 9 - genetics; Toll-Like Receptor 9 - metabolism; Toll-like receptors; Viral Load; peripheral blood mononuclear cells; innate immunity; toll-like receptor 9
• ISSN: 1672-0733; 1993-1352
• DOI: 10.1007/s11596-009-0310-2

The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of toll-like receptors （TLR） 9 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMC） of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C with different virus copies. The study group included 90 patients （60 with chronic hepatitis B, and 30 with chronic hepatitis C）, and 20 healthy people served as control group. The protein and mRNA levels of TLR9 were detected by using flow cytometry and real-time PCR. The serum viral copies of HBV and HCV were measured in all patients, and the correlation between HBV-DNA copies or HCV-RNA copies and the TLR9 expression was analyzed. Our results demonstrated that HBV or HCV infection led to a decreased expression of TLR9 mRNA and protein compared to the control group （P〈0.05）. The TLR9 protein and mRNA levels were negatively correlated with serum viral copies of HBV and HCV （r=-0.632, r=-0.909, P〈0.01）. It was concluded that TLR9 mRNA and protein are down-regulated in PBMC of HBV-infected or HCV-infected patients, and they are negatively correlated with serum viral copies and play an important role in detecting viral replication of HBV and HCV.