Introduction: The immune response constitutes the first-line defense against microbial infections. Toll like receptors (TLRs) play a fundamental role in neonatal innate immunity, and one of them, toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) is considered a major pattern recognition receptor (PRR) in recognizing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among various TLR genes have been identified and maybe related to susceptibility/resistance to certain infections and other inflammatory diseases.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to find a relation between sepsis-related outcomes in neonates and TLR4 Asp299Gly gene polymorphism.
Method: we carried out a case control study on 72 neonates. 36 neonates with culture proven gram-negative sepsis and 36 neonates as controls. Both groups were genotyped for TLR4 Asp299Gly gene polymorphism, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (RFLP) by using BccI enzyme.
Results: No statistically significant association between TLR4 Asp299Gly gene polymorphism and severity of neonatal sepsis (P>.99).
Conclusion: TLR4 Asp299Gly gene polymorphism is not associated with increased severity of gram-negative bacterial sepsis in neonates.