Peripheral blood mononuclear cell expression of toll-like receptors and relation to cytokine levels in cirrhosis

Abstract

Activation of macrophages by endotoxin is assumed responsible for increased circulating tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and soluble TNF receptor (sTNFR) levels in cirrhosis. Relevant to this is expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and TLR2, which is critically involved in production of TNF-α in response to endotoxin and Gram-positive microbial stimuli, respectively. The first studies on this in cirrhosis are reported here. In 36 cirrhotic patients and 32 controls, we measured (1) circulating endotoxin, TNF-α, and STNFR levels; (2) peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) expression of TLR4 and TLR2, and (3) in vitro TNF-α production by PBMCs stimulated with endotoxin or Staphylococcus au..