Assessing the human immune system through blood transcriptomics.
Blood is the pipeline of the immune system. Assessing changes in transcript abundance in blood on a genome-wide scale affords a comprehensive view of the status of the immune system in health and disease. This review summarizes the work that has used this approach to identify therapeutic targets and biomarker signatures in the field of autoimmunity and infectious disease. Recent technological and methodological advances that will carry the blood transcriptome research field forward are also discussed.
Chaussabel
Damien
D
Baylor Institute for Immunology Research and Baylor Research Institute, 3434 Live Oak, Dallas, TX 75204, USA. damienc@baylorhealth.edu
Pascual
Virginia
V
Banchereau
Jacques
J
D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
D015415:Biomarkers