Do saturated fatty acids directly stimulate Toll-like receptor signaling?
SFAs do not directly stimulate TLR-dependent signaling, suggesting that alternative mechanisms link dietary fat intake with TLR-associated pathologies. LPS and lipopeptide contamination of the widely used reagent fatty-acid-free BSA explains the previously reported stimulation of TLR2 and TLR4 by SFAs.
These data indicate that a finding of an increased hsTnT or NT-pro-BNP in subjects with chronic kidney disease stages 1/3 should be taken seriously as a prognostic marker for a worse cardiovascular outcome and not be discarded as merely a reflection of decreased renal clearance.