Recall that CD14 is a co-receptor of TLR-4 and that the toll-like receptors are critical to innate immune responses. Here we identified TLR-2 as one of the genes that was found to be significantly correlated with ethanol exposure through literature reports. The toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2, also known as CD282) is a membrane protein expressed on microglia, monocytes, macrophages, B-, C- and T-cells that aids in recognizing foreign substances and inducing a proinflammatory cytokine cascade [46]. It is downregulated through inhibition of p38 and ERK1/2 pathway activation, which is also involved in the CD14/TLR4 pathway [47]. Ethanol-treated mice and human alcoholics have increased expression levels of TLR-2, TLR-3, and TLR-4 in the orbital frontal cortex [48].
