Extensive study of cytokine, chemokines expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells upon CpG stimulation

The innate and adaptive immune response could be initiated by toll-like receptors (TLRs) by recognizing the conserved components of microbes. Among human TLR family, TLR9 was critical in sensing DNA viruses and endogenous DNA. Previous researches confirmed that activation of TLR9 could initiate many important cytokines such as IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IFN-β. The aim of this article is to analyze expression of more molecules upon TLR9 agonist stimulation, including tumor-related factors, kinase signal molecules, adhesion molecules, and co-stimulators. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from health volunteer and stimulated by CpG. RNA extraction and supernatant collection were conducted four hours post CpG treatment. Reatl-time PCR and antibody chip were introduced to detect the expression of immune-related molecules in RNA and protein secretion in supernatant, respectively. The results indicated that activation of TLR9 pathway greatly influenced the expression and secretion of many interleukins, cytokine, chemokines, tumor-related genes, adhesion molecules, kinase signal molecules, and co-stimulators. This is the first systematical analysis of immune-related molecules in PBMSCs upon TLR9 activation. Future study should focus on the role of the candidate molecules in TLR9-mediating biological functions.