Korean Lepr Bull.  2001 Dec;34(2):3-12.

The effect of TLR2 mutation in IL-12 production according to type of leprosy

• Kang TJ
• Lee SB
• Chae GT

Abstract

Recently, many reports suggest that the activation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) by microbial lipoproteins may initiate innate defense mechanism against infectious pathogens. Especially, TLR2 is critical in the immune response to mycobacterial infections and the mutations in the TLR2 have been shown to confer the susceptibility to severe infection with mycobacteria. A previous study reported that there is a mutation of TLR2 (TLR2-R677W) in lepromatous leprosy. In this study, thus, we performed the functional study on TLR2 by measurement of IL-12 production in serum and monocytes from leprosy patients with TLR2 mutation (R677W) to verify the relation between TLR2 and the susceptibility to leprosy. Tuberculoid leprosy patients showed higher serum levels of IL-12p70 compared with those of lepromatous leprosy. In contrast with the lepromatous leprosy patient with TLR2 mutation, especially, the group with wild-type TLR2 showed 2-fold increase levels of IL-12p70. Functional studies demonstrated that monocytes from patient with the TLR2 mutation, in comparison to the wild-type TLR2, is significantly less responsive to Mycobacterium leprae lysate. Our results reveal that TLR2 has a important role in the IL-12 production from monocytes and the susceptibility of lepromatous leprosy.

MeSH Terms

Humans
Interleukin-12*
Leprosy*
Leprosy, Lepromatous
Leprosy, Tuberculoid
Lipoproteins
Monocytes
Mycobacterium leprae
Toll-Like Receptor 2
Interleukin-12
Lipoproteins
Toll-Like Receptor 2