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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2003, p. 286-292, Vol. 10, No. 2
1071-412X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.10.2.286-292.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Constitutive Expression of a Bacterial Pattern Recognition Receptor, CD14, in Human Salivary Glands and Secretion as a Soluble Form in Saliva

Akiko Uehara,¹ Shunji Sugawara,^1* Kouichi Watanabe,² Seishi Echigo,³ Mitsunobu Sato,⁴ Takahiro Yamaguchi,² and Haruhiko Takada¹

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,¹ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tohoku University School of Dentistry, Sendai 980-8575,³ Department of Animal Production Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Sendai 981-8555,² Second Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tokushima University School of Dentistry, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan⁴

Received 23 August 2002/ Returned for modification 4 December 2002/ Accepted 20 December 2002

Saliva contains a number of proteins and glycoproteins that protect oral tissues, but little is known about the role of human saliva in innate immunity. Here we showed that human major salivary gland cells constitutively expressed a bacterial pattern recognition receptor, CD14, by immunohistochemistry. Human salivary gland cells in culture express CD14 mRNA and a 55-kDa CD14 protein in, but not on the cells, and secrete a soluble form with the same molecular mass. Human whole saliva contains a 55-kDa CD14, and the concentration of parotid saliva was 10-fold higher than whole saliva, which is comparable to that of serum CD14. Levels of CD14 in unstimulated whole and parotid saliva were unchanged before and after a meal and between unstimulated and stimulated saliva, indicating that saliva CD14 is constitutively secreted into the oral cavity. In contrast, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein was below the detectable level. The saliva CD14 is functionally active in that it mediated the activation of CD14-lacking intestinal epithelial cells by LPS in a Toll-like receptor 4-dependent manner. These results suggested that saliva CD14 is important for the maintenance of oral health and possibly intestinal homeostasis.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University School of Dentistry, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. Phone: 81-22-717-8306. Fax: 81-22-717-8309. E-mail: sugawars{at}mail.cc.tohoku.ac.jp.

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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2003, p. 286-292, Vol. 10, No. 2
1071-412X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.10.2.286-292.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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