Transcriptomic study reveals the mildly activated microglia of TLR2-deficient mice

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a class of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) playing critical roles in innate immune responses. Recent genetic and gene knockout studies have shown that TLR2 is associated with multiple neurological disorders and obesity, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Microglia, the resident macrophages of central nervous systems (CNS), constitutively express TLR2. More importantly, microglia-mediated neuroinflammation has emerged as a critical contributor to multiple CNS pathologies. This study, therefore, aims to analyze the effects of TLR2-deficient (TLR2D) on the transcriptome of mouse microglia and explore the possible mechanism of TLR2 deficiency causing neurological diseases and obesity.