Effects of candida albicans on the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 mRNA in cultured human vaginal epithelial cells

Objective To investigate the effects of candida albicans on the expression of Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)mRNA in cultured human vaginal epithelial cells.Methods The primary cultured human vaginal epithelial cells were stimulated with heat-killed Candida albicans blastoconidia for 12 h and 24 h and the expression of TLR4 mRNA was measured by quantitative real-time RT-PCR(QRT-PCR).Results TLR4 mRNA was minimally expressed in normal human vaginal epithelial tissues and cells.The expression of TLR4 mRNA in cultured human vaginal epithelial cells at 12 h after stimulation with heat-killed candida albicans blastoconidia was significant higher than those at 24 h and the control,respectively(P0.05).There was no statistically significant difference for TLR4 mRNA between vaginal epithelial cells at 24 h stimulated with candida albicans blastoconidia and those not stimulated(P=0.50).Conclusions Human vaginal epithelial cells both in vivo and in vitro can express constitutively trace amounts of TLR4.Our findings suggest that TLR4 may play a partial role in the recognition of candida albicans and startup host defense mechanism at the early stage of candida albicans infection of human vaginal epithelial cells.