Toll like Receptors (TLRs) expression in HIV children.

Results Mean age of study population was 8.08 ± 3.41 years. 75% of patients were in WHO clinical stage I and II, whereas 25% in stage III. 29% HIV children had severe immunosuppression. TLR-1 showed neutral expression in majority (96%) of HIV children. For TLR-7, 53.5% HIV children showed upregulation, whereas 32% and 14.5% showed downregulation and neutral expression, respectively. TLR-8 expression was downregulated in majority (93%) of HIV children. TLR-9 was upregulated in 29% of patients, whereas 71% had neutral expression. Of all the TLRs studied, only TLR-9 had correlation with WHO clinical stage 3 and severe immunosuppression. No correlation of TLR expression was found with age, nutritional status and ART status of patients.