Expression of Toll like receptor in pancreatic cancer cells / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare the expression difference of Toll like receptor (TLR) and inflammatory factors between pancreatic cancer and normal pancreatic epithelial cells, and explore the correlation between TLR and inflammatory microenvironment.Methods:Normal pancreatic duct epithelium cells (HPNE) and pancreatic cancer cells (Panc-1 and Mia-PACA-2) were cultured and proteins were obtained. The expression of TLR family protein, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) were examined by western blot in HPNE, Panc-1 and Mia-PACA-2. The correlations between TLR and inflammation cytokines of pancreatic cancer were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis.Results:Compared with HPNE, the TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7, TLR8 and TLR9 were highly expressed in Panc-1 and Mia-PACA-2 (all P<0.05). Compared with Panc-1, the expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in Mia-PACA-2 were increased obviously, while the TLR9 expression was mildly decreased (all P<0.05). The expression of IL-6 in HPNE was found less than that in Panc-1 (0.52±0.03 vs. 0.76±0.04) and Mia-PACA-2 (0.52±0.03 vs. 1.12±0.09) with statistical differences ( P<0.05). Similarly, the expression of TNF-α was found significantly less than that of Panc-1 cells (0.63±0.04 vs. 0.87±0.06) and Mia-PACA-2 cells (0.63±0.04 vs. 0.95±0.10) with statistical differences (all P<0.05). The expression of IL-6 was found positively correlated with expressions of TLR2 ( r=0.964), TLR4 ( r=0.968), TLR7 ( r=0.844), TLR8 ( r=0.668) (all P<0.05), and the expression of TNF-α was found positively correlated with expressions of TLR2 ( r=0.805), TLR4 ( r=0.893), TLR7 ( r=0.847), TLR8 ( r=0.780) (all P<0.05). In contrast with HPNE, the expression of MyD88 was found highly expressed in Panc-1 (0.91±0.10 vs. 0.33±0.03) and Mia-PACA-2 (1.14±0.10 vs. 0.33±0.03) (all P<0.001). Compared with Panc-1, the expression of MyD88 in Mia-PACA-2 was obviously increased (1.14±0.10 vs. 0.91±0.10) with statistical difference ( P=0.048). Conclusion:The TLR family may play a critical role in development of pancreatic cancer by regulating the immune microenvironment, and its mechanism may be through upregulating MyD88 which functions as key signal transduction.