Xie Bao-Guo, Jin Song, Zhu Wei-Jie
Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, P.R. China.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College, Haikou, Hainan 570102, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2014 Jan;7(1):236-240. doi: 10.3892/etm.2013.1360. Epub 2013 Oct 24.
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are pattern recognition receptors and play an important role in innate immune responses and the occurrence of inflammatory disease. TLR4 is a member of the TLR family and its activation is capable of inducing inflammatory responses, reflecting a relationship between the innate and adaptive immune systems. However, whether TLR4 is expressed in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has not been elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether TLR4 is expressed in maternal peripheral blood monocytes of patients with GDM. A case-control study, using standard quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, was performed to assess the TLR4 expression in 30 females with GDM and 32 healthy pregnant females at similar gestational ages. Serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels were assessed using ELISA in all the females. The TLR4 expression levels in the maternal peripheral blood monocytes and the serum TNF-α levels were increased in females with GDM compared with healthy pregnant females (P<0.05). Additionally, there was a positive correlation between the TLR4 expression level in peripheral blood monocytes and serum TNF-α levels in all the females. These results indicate that TLR4-mediated release of inflammatory cytokines may represent one factor leading to increased glucose levels in patients with GDM. In addition, TLR4 may be involved in the pathogenesis of GDM.
Toll样受体（TLRs）是模式识别受体，在先天性免疫反应和炎症性疾病的发生中起重要作用。TLR4是TLR家族的成员，其激活能够诱导炎症反应，反映了先天性免疫系统和适应性免疫系统之间的关系。然而，妊娠期糖尿病（GDM）患者是否表达TLR4尚未阐明。本研究的目的是调查GDM患者母体外周血单核细胞中是否表达TLR4。采用标准定量聚合酶链反应和蛋白质印迹法进行病例对照研究，以评估30例GDM女性和32例孕龄相似的健康妊娠女性的TLR4表达。使用酶联免疫吸附测定法评估所有女性的血清肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α水平。与健康妊娠女性相比，GDM女性母体外周血单核细胞中的TLR4表达水平和血清TNF-α水平升高（P<0.05）。此外，所有女性外周血单核细胞中的TLR4表达水平与血清TNF-α水平之间存在正相关。这些结果表明，TLR4介导的炎性细胞因子释放可能是导致GDM患者血糖水平升高的一个因素。此外，TLR4可能参与GDM的发病机制。
