Isolation and expression profiling of genes upregulated in the peripheral blood cells of systemic lupus erythematosus patients.
We have identified the genes whose expressions are augmented in the blood cells of the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using the 'stepwise subtraction' technique along with microarray analysis. The expression levels of these genes were assessed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 31 SLE patients and 30 healthy controls. We found that the transcription levels of following eight genes were significantly increased in SLE patients; interferon (IFN)-alpha-inducible protein 27 (IFI27), IFN-alpha-inducible protein IFI-15K (G1P2), IFN stimulated gene 20 kDa (ISG20), epithelial stromal interaction 1 (EPSTI1), defensin-alpha (DEFA3), amphiregulin (AREG) and two genes of unknown function (BLAST accession nos AL050290 and AY358224 = SLED1). In comparison with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an organ-specific autoimmune disease, IFI27, G1P2 and SLED1 were preferentially upregulated in SLE. In contrast, AREG and AL050290 were more highly expressed in ITP than in SLE. We correlated changes in gene expression and clinical/laboratory features of SLE and found that expression of ISG20, EPSTI1 and SLED1 are significantly correlated with lymphocyte counts. Genes linked to IFN are well known to influence SLE, but several other novel genes unrelated to IFN signaling we report here would be useful to understand the pathophysiology of SLE.
Ishii
Taeko
T
Department of Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Suita, Japan.
Onda
Hiroaki
H
Tanigawa
Akie
A
Ohshima
Shiro
S
Fujiwara
Hiroshi
H
Mima
Toru
T
Katada
Yoshinori
Y
Deguchi
Hitoshi
H
Suemura
Masaki
M
Miyake
Tadao
T
Miyatake
Kunio
K
Kawase
Ichiro
I
Zhao
Hanjun
H
Tomiyama
Yoshiaki
Y
Saeki
Yukihiko
Y
Nojima
Hiroshi
H
D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism*; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020543:Proteome / Q000378:metabolism*; D016553:Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
D020543:Proteome