Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 360, Issue 9331, 10 August 2002, Pages 465-466
The Lancet

Research Letters
Expression of CD14 and Toll-like receptor 2 in farmers' and nonfarmers' children

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)09641-1Get rights and content

Summary

Children of farmers are at decreased risk of developing allergies. Results of epidemiological studies suggest increased exposure to microbial compounds might be responsible for this reduced risk. Alterations in adaptive immune response are thought to be the underlying mechanism. We measured expression of receptors for microbial compounds known to trigger the innate immune response. We showed that blood cells from farmers' children express significantly higher amounts of CD14 (0·96 vs 0·43, p=0·0013), and Toll-like receptor 2 (0·11 vs 0·04, p<0·0001) than those from nonfarmers' children. We propose that the innate immune system responds to the microbial burden in the environment and modulates the development of allergic disease.

Cited by (257)

  • The influence of the intestinal microbiome on vaccine responses

    2018, Vaccine
    Citation Excerpt :

    However, the interplay between the microbiome, TLR stimulation and immune responses is complex. For example, children growing up in rural areas with high exposure to microbial products, have higher expression of TLR in their blood [30]. However, another study shows that infants in South Africa produce lower levels of cytokines in response to TLR4 stimulation compared with age-matched children in North America or Europe, which might influence vaccine effectiveness [31].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text