Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Sci Rep. 2012;2:574. doi: 10.1038/srep00574. Epub 2012 Aug 14.
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are innate receptors critical for host defense, and play a role in normal biological processes. For example, host DNA, a TLR9 ligand, stimulates epithelial repair following skin wounding. TLR signaling also plays a crucial role in regulating intestinal homeostasis. We therefore asked whether TLR9 is important for intestinal wound repair using a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal damage and repair model. We showed that TLR9-deficient mice are more susceptible to DSS, and exhibited delayed wound repair at both the clinical and histologic levels. TLR9-deficient mice showed reduced gene expression of hairy enhancer of split 1, an intestinal progenitor cell differentiation factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor, a growth factor important for epithelial cell restitution. Therefore, we conclude that TLR stimulation may play a normal role in regulating intestinal homeostasis and could potentially be a novel therapeutic target to enhance intestinal wound repair in inflammatory bowel diseases.
Toll 样受体(TLRs)是宿主防御的固有受体,在正常的生物学过程中发挥作用。例如,宿主 DNA,TLR9 的配体,可刺激皮肤创伤后的上皮修复。TLR 信号也在调节肠道稳态中起着至关重要的作用。因此,我们使用葡聚糖硫酸钠(DSS)诱导的肠道损伤和修复模型来研究 TLR9 是否对肠道伤口修复很重要。我们发现 TLR9 缺陷型小鼠对 DSS 更敏感,在临床和组织学水平上表现出伤口修复延迟。TLR9 缺陷型小鼠的肠分裂增强因子 1(一种肠道祖细胞分化因子)和血管内皮生长因子(一种对上皮细胞修复很重要的生长因子)的基因表达减少。因此,我们得出结论,TLR 刺激可能在调节肠道稳态中发挥正常作用,并且可能成为增强炎症性肠病中肠道伤口修复的一种新的治疗靶点。