Photoreceptor cells constitutively express functional TLR4

Tu, Zhidan; Portillo, Jose-Andres C.; Howell, Scott; Bu, Hong; Subauste, Carlos S.; Al-Ubaidi, Muayyad R.; Pearlman, Eric; Lin, Feng

doi:10.1016/j.jneuroim.2010.07.022

« Previous Next »Journal of Neuroimmunology
Volume 230, Issue 1 , Pages 183-187, January 2011

Photoreceptor cells constitutively express functional TLR4

Zhidan Tu
- Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
- Department of Pathology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Jose-Andres C. Portillo
- Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
Scott Howell
- Department of Ophthalmology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
Hong Bu
- Department of Pathology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Carlos S. Subauste
- Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
Muayyad R. Al-Ubaidi
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Eric Pearlman
- Department of Ophthalmology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
Feng Lin
- Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
- Corresponding author. Institute of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 2085 Adelbert Road, Room 306, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. Tel.: +1 216 368 2118.

Received 19 May 2010; received in revised form 23 July 2010; accepted 27 July 2010. published online 01 September 2010.

Abstract

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is expressed on a number of cells including neurons in the brain. However, it has yet to be determined if TLR4 is expressed on photoreceptor cells in the retina. In this report, we examined primary photoreceptor cells and an established photoreceptor cell line (661W). We found that functional TLR4 is constitutively expressed on photoreceptor cells, and can be activated by LPS. We conclude that TLR4 on photoreceptor cells could directly contribute to retinal inflammatory diseases and photoreceptor cell survival.

Keywords: TLR4, Photoreceptor, IL-6, CXCL1, Inflammation, Apoptosis