Gingival overgrowth is an undesirable outcome of systemic medication and is evidenced by the accretion of collagenous components in gingival connective tissues along with diverse degrees of inflammation. Phenytoin therapy has been found to induce the most fibrotic lesions in gingiva, cyclosporine caused the least fibrotic lesions, and nifedipine induced intermediate fibrosis in drug‑induced gin...

Human toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) to raise innate immune responses. The human TLR family was discovered because of its sequence similarity to fruit fly (Drosophila) Toll, which is involved in an anti-fungal response. In this review, we focus on the origin of the vertebrate TLR family highlighted through functional and phylogenetic analyses...

MHC class II molecules expressed by professional antigen presenting cells (pAPCs) such as macrophages, B cells, and dendritic cells (DCs) play a fundamental role in presenting peptides to CD4(+) T cells. However, to elicit CD4(+)-T cells immunity, pAPCs need an additional signal, which can be delivered by toll-like receptors (TLRs) molecules. TLRs recognize microbial patterns and are critical i...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs), as the most important pattern recognition receptors in innate immunity, play a pivotal role in inducing immune response through recognition of microbial invaders or specific agonists. Recent studies have suggested that TLRs could serve as important regulators in the development of a variety of cancer. However, increasing evidences have shown that TLRs may display qui...

Background: Implantation is characterized by the interaction of two immunologically and genetically distinct tissues. The embryo differs from the cells of the mother, and would be rejected as a parasite by the immune system of the mother if it didn’t secrete immunosuppressive agents. Thus, immunological rejection of the fetus due to recognition of paternal antigens by the maternal immune system...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are known to recognize not only pathogen-associated molecular patterns but also danger-associated molecular patterns. Recent studies have characterized the expression levels and functions of TLRs in human epidermal cells. However, the characteristics of TLR family members in human dermal fibroblasts have not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, the present study system...