Figure 5. TLR mRNA expression in dry eye subjects.

The relative quantity of TLR4, TLR5 and TLR9 mRNA expression in CIC samples from DED and age-and gender-matched controls was evaluated. Relative quantity data derived from the control group were normalized to one and it is represented by the control line. Bars rising above or below the control line represent an up-regulation or down-regulation in TLR expression respectively. There was a significant down-regulation of TLR9 mRNA to 0.42 ± 0.51 fold or by almost 59.5% on average in the dry eye subjects compared to the normal subjects (A). Correlation between TLR4 mRNA expression and increasing severity of dry eye as measured by the OSDI, n=12, R²=0.3405 (B). TLR4 protein intracellular and extracellular expression from CIC samples from dry eye and age and gender-matched normal control subjects. Protein expression for TLR4 was increased in DED subjects when compared to normal subjects at both intracellular and cell surface compartments, however the differences (8.2± 7.2% vs 1.7 ± 0.9%; and 0.6 ± 0.8% vs 0.3 ± 0.2% respectively) were not significant (C). Data were analyzed using an unpaired Student's t-test, where P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant when compared to the age-and gender-matched control group (*).