title: Identification of tryptase- and chymase-related gene clusters in human mast cells using microarrays.
abstract: Tryptase and chymase are the two major granular proteases present in human mast cell (MC)s. We used oligonucleotide microarray to measure the levels of approximately 22,000 transcripts in cord blood-derived MCs at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 18 weeks in culture. Tryptase (TPSB2) was expressed at the highest level among all transcripts and its expression level reached a plateau at 8 weeks. On the other hand, the expression level of chymase (CMAI) doubled every 4-6 weeks. A similar tendency was found at the protein levels with FACS analysis. After filtering the transcripts with MC-specificity, hierarchical clustering analysis identified 494 and 81 transcripts in the same clusters with tryptase and chymase, respectively. MC-specific genes, KIT and HDC were found in the tryptase cluster. In the chymase cluster, a critical suppressor for cell senescence, BMI1 and the several related genes were found, suggesting that chymase expression may be closely related to cell senescence/quiescence events.
authors.affiliation: A Research, Department of Pediatrics, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dahl
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kruhøffer
authors.forename: P O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Schiøtz
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053818:Chymases; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000201:enzymology*; D005810:Multigene Family; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors; D053802:Tryptases
chemical_list: D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D053818:Chymases; D053802:Tryptases