Methods Clinical and laboratory data of 48 newborn babies in the early neonatal period were studied. 22 babies (main group) had the generalised herpetic infection. The control group was comprised of 26 clinically healthy babies. The intrauterine herpetic infection was diagnosed on the basis of the disease pattern, detected DNA of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in blood and urine, increasing titers of the specific IgG to HSV over time and detected IgM in the blood serum. TLR-2 (CD14 + CD282 + ) expression in monocytes was detected by means of cytofluorometry (Beckman Coulter). The polymorphism of allelic variants of TLR-2 genes was studied by means of PCR. The content of IFN-a in the blood serum was determined by immune-enzyme analysis (BCM-Diagnostic, USA). Results The decreased expression of TLR-2 (CD14 + CD282 + ) in monocytes of the peripheral blood (43.8 ± 8.3% as against 76.2 ± 5.6%, p<0.05) was revealed in the main group as compared with the control group. The performed frequency studies of the polymorphism of TLR-2 genes revealed that in the newborn babies with the generalised herpetic infection the frequency of Arg753Gln genotype of TLR-2 gene was significantly higher in comparison with the control group (26.3% and 3.8% correspondingly, p<0.05). The correlation between Arg/Gln allele of TLR-2 gene and the indices of nonspecific organism protection was revealed. It appeared that the patients, who were carriers of Gln allele in heterozygous condition, the level of IFN-a was significantly different from the indices of the group without the given polymorphism from the statistic point of view (0.49 ± 0.01 pg/ml as against 0.1 ± 0.01 pg/ml, p<0.05). Conclusion The babies with the generalised intrauterine herpetic infection have the decreased expression of TLR-2 in monocytes as well as the allelic polymorphism of TLR-2 gene in the points of Arg753Gln and the decreased level of IFN-a. The revealed peculiarities of the innate immunity factors explain high sensitivity of the newborn babies in relation to the herpetic infection and confirm their role in the development of the disease pattern.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.