BACKGROUND: Inflammatory responses induced by ox-LDL play important roles in atherogenesis, and could be promoted in diabetic patients. Toll-like receptor (TLR)2 is an innate inflammatory receptor, and is enhanced in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) under high glucose conditions. Ox-LDL-TLR2 pathway activation and further inflammation in monocytes are involved in the atherosclerosis formation. OBJECTIVE: What role of TLR2 plays on ox-LDL-induced inflammation in HUVECs remains unclear, especially in high glucose conditions. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect and role of ox-LDL-TLR2 pathway on the inflammatory responses in HUVECs. METHODS: 1 hour prior to the treatment, HUVECs were treated with or without neutralizing anti-TLR2 antibody. After that, HUVECs were treated with ox-LDL (20, or 40 μg/ml) or LPS (200 ng/ml) under normal and high glucose conditions. The expressions of ICAM-1 and TLR2 protein were analyzed by immunoblotting, and IL-6 and IL-8 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: Compared with those in normal glucose condition, IL-6 and IL-8 expression were increased in high glucose condition. The stimulation of ox-LDL and LPS both increased the expression of ICAM-1, IL-6 and IL-8, but did not change TLR2 protein expression in both normal and high glucose conditions. Additionally, the expression of ICAM-1, IL-6 and IL-8 was not changed when TLR2 was knocked out under these two conditions. CONCLUSION: The inflammatory responses induced by Ox-LDL were not changed with or without TLR2 under both normal and high glucose conditions in HUVECs. Our study indicates TLR2 is not involved in the ox-LDL mediated endothelial injury under high glucose conditions, which is an important step of atherosclerosis formation in diabetes.