Bridging the importance of Toll like receptors in human viral infections

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have important role in innate immunity, since they detect pathogen-associated molecular patterns on a wide range of microbes, leading towards activation of innate immune responses and orchestration of adaptive immune response. Most of the viruses have evolved mechanisms to subvert for the benefit of virus and to evade immune system. Literature search was performed from Pubmed and Google Scholar search engines. Among thirteen different types of TLRs, TLR1, TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7, TLR8 and TLR9 are involved in responses towards viral infection. In this review, we will discuss earlier evidence, mainly from knockout mice studies, implicating TLRs in the innate immune response to viruses, in light of more recent clinical data demonstrating that TLRs are important for anti-viral immunity in humans.