TLR stimulation of human neutrophils lead to increased release of MCP-1, MIP-1α, IL-1β, IL-8 and TNF during tuberculosis.

Neutrophils inform and shape immune responses. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an essential part in the perception of microbes and shape the complex host responses that occur during infection. The TLRs present on neutrophils play an indispensable role in neutrophil mediated pathogen recognition and elimination. This study was done to identify the role of significant TLRs in immune responses leading to differences in cytokine/chemokine release following stimulation. We evaluated the concentrations of various significant cytokines (IL-1β, TNF, MIP-1α, MCP-1 and IL-8) secreted by neutrophils from healthy donors and pulmonary tuberculosis patients following TLR ligand stimulation. TLR stimulation increased the release of such cytokines in both the groups. Thus it is noted that TLR stimulation of neutrophils definitely lead to increased cytokine response. Also, the release of all the studied cytokines are found to be greatly increased in patient neutrophils, affirming that neutrophils undergo secretory level modifications during tuberculosis infection.