the expression of tlrs in testicular cancer: a case control study

background: it has been suggested that malfunction of immune system may cause testicular cancer. recently, our understanding of innate immune system has been expanded, by discovery of “toll- like receptors” (tlrs). some studies have shown that polymorphisms of tlr2 and 4 can effect on the risk of cancer. also, the role of tlrs 3and 9 have been shown in apoptosis of cancer cells and metastasis in animal models. objective: little information is available about the influence of innate immunity on testicular malignancy. therefore, expression of tlrs 2, 3, 4 and 9 as main components of innate immunity has been investigated in this study. materials and methods: in this case control study, tlrs gene expression was examined by rt-pcr in normal testis and testicular cancer tissues. real time quantitative pcr (q-pcr) analysis was used to compare the relative expression of tlrs between the samples. results: mrnas of tlr 2, 3, 4 and 9 were expressed in all normal and cancer samples. q-pcr reveals that cancer samples had stronger expression of these genes in compared with normal ones. conclusion: it seems that the different tlrs expression in testicular cancer cells may contribute to extensive signaling pathways involved in carcinogenesis.