Toll-like receptor and silk sericin for tissue engineering

Toll-like receptor (TLR) is responsible for the recognition of foreign protein. Accordingly, TLR is mainly expressed in the immune associated cells. When foreign protein such as silk sericin is considered for the graft, the response of TLR should be considered. TLR is not all or none responsive receptor. TLR can be activated differently by the intensity of the input. Silk sericin is easily fragmented. The protein conformation of silk sericin is different to the degumming method. TLR response to silk sericin may be different to the degumming method. Consequently, objective tailored extraction method should be investigated and developed.