Differential expression of the neurotrophin receptors p75NTR, TrkA, TrkB and TrkC in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Neurotrophins are involved in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. In addition to their influence on afferent sensory nerves within the lung, it has been shown in the last years that these factors modulate allergic airway inflammation. The knowledge about their immunomodulatory roles on diverse subsets of immune cells is still fragmentary and incomplete. Since neurotrophin receptor surface expression is essential for neurotrophin action, the aim of our study was to systematically investigate the expression pattern of the low affinity pan neurotrophin receptor p75NTR as well as the high-affinity receptors TrkA, TrkB and TrkC in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Our results show that each of the receptors has an individual expression pattern in diverse immune cell subtypes. However, there were no differences in neurotrophin receptor expression in healthy controls and patients with allergies.