Expressions of Toll like receptor-1, -3, -9 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expressions of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-1, TLR-3, TLR-9 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). Methods The expressions of TLR-1, TLR-3 and TLR-9 mRNA were measured by real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in PBMC of 45 children with INS came from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University before and after treatment (active group and remission group, respectively) and 30 healthy children from medical examination center as healthy control group, so as to explore the relativity between TLR-1, TLR-3 and TLR-9 mRNA and serum levels of albumin and cholesterol. Results The expression of TLR-1 mRNA/β-actin in PBMC of children with INS before treatment (the active group) was significantly higher than that in the remission group (2.432±0.231 vs.1.675±0.627, t=7.599, P 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that there was a negative correlation between the expressions of TLR-1, TLR-3 and TLR-9 mRNA and the serum level of albumin in PBMC of children with INS before treatment (r=-0.457, -0.891, -0.125, respectively, all P<0.05). However, there was a positive correlation between the expressions of TLR-1, TLR-3 and TLR-9 mRNA and the serum level of cholesterol (r=0.445, 0.911, 0.872, all P<0.05). Conclusions The expressions of TLR-1, TLR-3 and TLR-9 mRNA in PBMC of children with INS were significantly higher and correlated with activity of disease. Key words: Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome; Child; Toll-like receptor; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells