the effects of ostertagia occidentalis somatic antigens on ovine tlr2 and tlr4 expression

background: recognition of helminth-derived pathogen associated molecular patterns (pamps) by pattern recognition receptors (prrs), including toll like recep­tors (tlrs) is the first step towards initiating anti–helminth immune re­sponses. methods : using somatic antigens of ostertagia occidentalis, an important abomasal parasite of ruminants, the expression of ovine tlr2 and tlr4 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) was analyzed by real-time quatitative reverse-transcrip­tion polymerase chain reaction (qrt-pcr). somatic antigens of o. occidentalis were prepared to stimulate ovine pbmcs in a time and dose dependent manner. results : a high expression of tlr2 and tlr4 was observed in pbmcs cultured with somatic antigens of the parasites specially when pbmcs were cultured with 100 µg/ml of somatic antigens and incubated for 2h. up-regulation of tlr2 expres­sion was more pronounced and evident in our study. conclsusion : somatic antigens of o. occidentalis have immunostimulatory and domi­nant role on peripheral immune cells. this study provide for the first time evidence of induction of tlrs in ovine pbmcs by somatic antigen of o. occidentalis