Primary Immunodeficiencies and Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases
To date, six Mendelian primary immunodeficiencies associated with impaired TLR signaling and NF-κB activation have been reported (
52,
62,
78,
294,
376,
400) (Table
2). These genetic disorders are excessively rare, and progress has been made primarily through international collaborations directed by Casanova (
196). First, anhydrotic ectodermal dysplasia with immunodeficiency (EDA-ID) is an X-linked recessive immunodeficiency caused by mutations in NEMO, a critical component of the IKK complex, and resulting in impaired NF-κB signaling (
78). Affected patients display abnormalities in ectodermal development, including absent or diminished dental growth and hair, as well as various degrees of immunodeficiency. The infectious phenotype is dominated by invasive infections by encapsulated pyogenic bacteria, such as
Haemophilus influenzae,
S. pyogenes, and
S. aureus (
195). These patients can also be affected by weakly pathogenic mycobacteria, viral illnesses with herpesviruses (
282), and fungal diseases, particularly
P. jirovecii pneumonitis (
78,
195). Laboratory investigations reveal various degrees of hyper-immunoglobulin M syndrome (
152), NK cell abnormalities (
282), and a poor response to LPS, IL-1β, and TNF-α (
196). Moreover, a second form of EDA-ID inherited in a dominant way has been reported in a patient with a mutation in the ikba gene (
62), which prevents IκBα phosphorylation and NF-κB activation.
The third primary immunodeficiency, involving IRAK4, is inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder (
294). As previously described, IRAK4 plays an important role in signal propagation to NF-κB and MAPKs downstream of certain TLRs (
294,
348). Accordingly, poor inflammatory responses and recurrent pyogenic bacterial infections, particularly with
S. pneumoniae, have been reported in patients with this disorder (
294). Blood cells from these patients fail to produce IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, and TNF-α in response to various TLR agonists (
196), and fibroblasts are unable to activate both NF-κB and MAPK pathways following IL-1β stimulation (
196). Given the central position of IRAK4 in TLR and IL-1R signaling, the relatively mild phenotype of IRAK4-deficient patients may seem surprising. However, a similar immunological and infectious phenotype was recently described in the case of MyD88-deficient patients, who are vulnerable to recurrent pyogenic infections early in life (
376), supporting a narrow but nonredundant role of both IRAK4 and MyD88 in protective immunity against certain bacterial infections. The observation that both IRAK4- and MyD88-deficient patients are affected mostly in the neonatal and childhood period and then appear to improve with age may also suggest that maturation of TLR-independent innate immunity or T and B lymphocyte-specific adaptive responses progressively compensate for the poor innate immune response early in life.
The first immunodeficiency originating from a TLR mutation was identified in a recent report describing increased susceptibility to HSV encephalitis in patients with rare mutations in TLR3, indicating a possible role for this receptor in central nervous system infections with HSV and possibly other neurotropic viruses (
400). Finally, a genetic predisposition to HSV encephalitis was identified in two children lacking functional UNC-93B (
52), an ER protein required for delivering nucleotide-sensing TLRs (TLR3, -7, -8, and -9) from the ER to endosomes (
190,
351).
The list of associations between PRR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and altered susceptibility to different pathogens is rapidly expanding; some examples are given below, and a more extensive overview is presented in Table
2. However, interpretation of the causal association between an SNP and alteration in disease susceptibility at the mechanistic level is frequently hampered by inadequate knowledge of the molecular consequences of the polymorphism, i.e., whether any given SNP results in diminished or increased inflammation.
Two SNPs in TLR2 have been linked to reduced NF-κB activation and human diseases (
363). First, the Arg677Trp polymorphism has been associated with leprosy in a Korean population (
167) and with susceptibility to tuberculosis in a Tunisian population (
33). At the mechanistic level, this may be explained by the mutation causing reduced IL-12 levels in response to mycobacteria, thereby resulting in diminished IFN-γ-mediated Th1 responses. The second functional TLR2 variant, Arg753Gln, is overrepresented in patients with staphylococcal septic shock (
217) and associated with an increased risk of developing tuberculosis (
278), in agreement with TLR2 recognizing PAMPs from these two pathogens. The central position of TLR4 as the receptor for LPS of gram-negative bacteria has inspired several studies on the role of this receptor in human diseases. Two relatively frequent cosegregating polymorphisms in TLR4, Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile, have been linked to an increased risk of infection and septic shock with gram-negative bacteria as well as to an increased risk of severe malaria in African children (
4,
218,
255). Furthermore, rare TLR4 mutations were associated with increased meningococcal susceptibility in a study involving a large collection of patients with meningococcal sepsis (
337). In a case-control study, other TLR4 polymorphisms have been associated with resistance to Legionnaires' disease, suggesting a protective association (
116). In contrast, TLR5 has a stop codon variant (TLR5 392STOP) that is associated with increased susceptibility to pneumonia caused by
L. pneumophila (
117).
Regarding TLR9, data from the Swiss HIV cohort have suggested that TLR9 polymorphisms may influence the clinical course of HIV type 1 infection, based on findings that two SNPs in TLR9 were associated with rapid progression of HIV type 1 infection (
36). Although the cellular mechanism behind this association remains to be elucidated, a possible explanation may be that TLR9-mediated NF-κB activation enhances HIV replication by binding to HIV long terminal repeats or, alternatively, that nonspecific immunostimulation participates in CD4 T-lymphocyte depletion and exhaustion of cellular immunity (
75,
83). A negative influence of excessive immunostimulation was also reported by Arcaroli et al., who identified a variant IRAK1 haplotype (Leu522Ser) associated with increased NF-κB activation and increased severity of sepsis (
20). In a large epidemiological study, heterozygosity of a Mal Ser180Leu functional variant has been associated with protection from invasive pneumococcal disease, bacteremia, malaria, and tuberculosis (
185). The authors investigated the functional consequences of this amino acid substitution and concluded that the Mal variant attenuated TLR2 signal transduction, thus implying that strong TLR2 activation may be disadvantageous in these common infectious diseases (
185).
Collectively, the majority of studies strongly suggest that in humans as well as in mice, TLRs play an important role in inflammatory immune responses. However, genetic population studies seem to indicate that no strong selective pressure operates on TLRs, and thus it has been speculated that TLRs may be redundant and that other sensors of innate immunity can substitute for their functions (
196). Alternatively, it may be that a more profound defect in pan-TLR signaling has not been identified in humans, simply because it would be incompatible with survival, thus supporting the current idea that TLRs are key sensors of invading pathogens in innate immune defenses.
Systemic Autoimmune Disorders
Since nucleic acids of the host are generally inaccessible to RNA- and DNA-sensing receptors present in specific compartments, they do not trigger PRR signaling. However, under certain pathological conditions, such as incomplete clearance of apoptotic cells, host-derived nucleic acids may become available for TLRs, an event that may break tolerance and result in autoimmunity (
228,
236). Despite TLR3, -7, -8, and -9 being originally identified as receptors specific for microbial nucleic acids, more recently some of these receptors have been linked to the detection of endogenous host RNA and DNA in systemic autoimmune diseases (
228). Fundamental progress in the understanding of the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases was made when the need for dual engagement of the B-cell receptor (BCR) and TLRs by autoreactive B lymphocytes was described (
207). These self-reactive B lymphocytes are responsible for the formation of immune complexes by producing antibodies recognizing a limited range of nuclear self-autoantigens, including DNA, histones, RNA, and RNA-binding proteins (
207). Binding of the immune complex by the BCR, or by the FcγR in the case of pDCs, is followed by BCR-mediated endocytosis and delivery of the immune complex to an endosomal compartment, which allows ssRNA and CpG DNA motifs within the autoantigen to activate the cell through TLR7 and TLR9, respectively (
203,
207,
241).
Based on findings that immune complexes associated with self-DNA and -RNA can activate pDCs to produce large amounts of IFN-α, coupled with clinical data revealing that IFN-producing pDCs accumulate in cutaneous systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) lesions (
84,
241), the common mechanism, by which TLRs play a role in SLE pathogenesis, is believed to be via production of IFN-α. This is supported by epidemiological studies, which have demonstrated an association between a TLR9 polymorphism and susceptibility to SLE in a Japanese population (
361). Furthermore, an association between genetic variants of IRF5, which is involved in regulating IFN-α production, and SLE in multiple ethnic groups has now been established (
105,
183,
358). Mechanistic insights into the process of immune complex formation and uptake, TLR activation, and type I IFN production may explain some fundamental observations on the nature of systemic autoimmune diseases, such as the association between infections and a triggering event in disease development, and the subsequent association between infection and disease flares once an autoimmune condition has manifested. However, despite recent progress in the understanding of autoimmune diseases such as SLE, the precise mechanism behind loss of peripheral tolerance remains unknown (
228).
Finally, uncontrolled excessive or constitutive NF-κB activation has been associated with oncogenesis, particularly in the lymphoid system, and has been implicated in the development of multiple hematological malignancies as well as in several solid tumors. This subject is not within the scope of the present review but has been excellently reviewed by Courtois and Gilmore (
61) and by Karin (
171).