Chlamydia muridarum elicits MIP-2 and TNF-α through TLR2 in vivo, and TLR2 deficiency caused a reduction in chronic oviduct pathology. In the same publication by Darville et al. (2003), TLR4 deficiency in vitro caused an increase in cytokine production upon infection, but this occurrence could not be observed

in vivo. The higher impact of TLR2 on C. muridarum could be explained by the preferential expression of TLR2 compared with TLR4 in the reproductive tract (Pioli et al., 2004). Parachlamydia acanthamoebae triggers IL-6 and TNF-α mainly through TLR4 in vitro and in vivo. The in vivo model showed no impact of the absence www.selleckchem.com/products/MK-2206.html of TLR4 activation on pathogenicity and the number of genetic copies (Roger et al., 2010). The redundancy that can be observed in the immune response

network could explain the discrepancy between the cytokine production in vitro and its impact on the in vivo pathogenesis, adding complexity for the determination of key factors. Chlamydia pneumoniae Hsp60 and lipopolysaccharides are strong PAMPs that trigger TLR4/Myd88 signaling in vitro and in vivo (Bulut et al., 2002, high throughput screening assay 2009). Among others, the former signaling pathway induces the following cytokines: IL-6, IL-8, MIP-2 and TNF-α. Chlamydiales also have PAMPs that do not activate TLR4 or TLR2, but induce Myd88 (Netea et al., 2004; Nagarajan et al., 2005). A lack of Myd88 prevents C. pneumoniae clearance in vivo and a severe chronic inflammation develops (Naiki et al., 2005). This further supports Isotretinoin the importance of a rapid response to chlamydial infections to prevent establishment of the pathogen. Moreover, the same PAMP can activate different TLRs depending on the target cell (Netea et al., 2002; Bulut et al., 2009). In addition,

depending on the read-out selected for immune cell activation, conflicting data can be obtained. Thus, Bulut et al. (2009) used IL-6 cytokines as a read-out for dendritic cell activation, whereas Prebeck et al. (2001) used IL-12 and TNF-α as a read-out. Bulut et al. (2009) showed a TLR4 not TLR2 dependency for dendritic cell activation by C. pneumoniae Hsp60, while Prebeck et al. (2001) obtained exactly the opposite result with elementary bodies (EB) (Prebeck et al., 2001; Bulut et al., 2009). These conflicting data are probably due to the different cytokines used as a read-out, because their expression depends on TLR signaling. A more exhaustive screening is thus mandatory to prevent controversies and also to have a broader picture of the induced effectors. Because TLRs can have a redundant function and in addition occur as hetero- or homodimers, it can be challenging to determine the role of some receptors. For example, C. trachomatis antigen Mip is recognized by several TLR combinations, but single inhibition of TLR has a weak impact on cytokines expression (Bas et al., 2008). These additive effects were also observed for C. trachomatis lipopolysaccharide signaling.