Comparison of Toll-like receptor expression in granulocytes from umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood

AIM：To compare the expression levels of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the granulocytes isolated from umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood. METHODS：The granulocytes in umbilical blood and adult peri-pheral blood were isolated by the method of density gradient centrifugation combined with red blood cell splitting. The purity of the cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. The mRNA expression levels of 10 TLRs were detected by RT-qPCR, and the protein levels of some TLRs were also tested by flow cytometry. RESULTS：The populations of CD19- CD24+ cells and CD3+ cells were （95.66±3.15）% and (4.19±1.54)% in neonatal granulocytes,respectively, and were (95.36±1.74)% and (4.30±0.96)% in adult granulocytes,respectively. The relative mRNA expression levels of TLRs in the granulocytes isolated from umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood were as follows: TLR1 0.141±0.091 and 0.691±0.447, TLR2 0.388±0.337 and 0.901±0.508, TLR4 0.093±0.071 and 0.254±0.147, TLR6 0.056±0.045 and 0.202±0.034, TLR7 0.001±0.001 and 0.004±0.003, and TLR8 0.046±0.040 and 0.211±0.146,and the diffe-rence had statistical significance (P<0.01). However, no difference in the expression levels of TLR3, TLR5, TLR9 and TLR10 between the neonatal and adult gra-nulocytes was observed (P>0.05). Among them, the mRNA expression of TLR3, TLR7 and TLR9 was at a low level in both neonatal and adult granulocytes. The protein level of TLR2 in adult gra-nulocytes (30.50±5.69) was higher than that in neonatal granulocytes (21.40±3.09, P<0.05). CONCLUSION：Low mRNA expression of TLR1, TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6, and low protein level of TLR2 in neonatal granulocytes indicate that the ability of recognizing bacterial pathogen by neonatal granulocytes may be defective or not yet fully mature.