TLR6: A novel member of an expanding Toll-like receptor family

Drosophila Toll protein is shown to activate the innate immune system in adult and regulate the dorsoventral patterning in the developing embryo. Recently, five human homologs of Drosophila Toll, designated as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), have been identified and shown to play a role in the innate immune response. We report here the molecular cloning and characterization of a new member of Toll-like receptor family, Toll-like receptor 6 (TLR6). Human and murine TLR6 are type-I transmembrane receptors that contain both an extracellular leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain and a cytoplasmic Toll/IL-1 receptor (IL-1R)-like region. The amino acid sequence of human TLR6 (hTLR6) is most similar to that of hTLR1 with 69% identity. RT-PCR analysis revealed that murine TLR6 is expressed predominantly in spleen, thymus, ovary and lung. Like other TLR family members, constitutively active TLR6 activates both NF-κB and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The TLR6 gene, as well as the TLR1 gene, mapped to the proximal region of murine chromosome 5 within 1.7cM of each other. These results suggest that TLR6 is a novel member of an expanding TLR family.