title: Validation of the use of peripheral blood mononuclear cells as surrogate model for skeletal muscle tissue in nutrigenomic studies.
abstract: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) offer a significant promise for gene expression analyses as a substitute for tissues that are not easily accessible. The objective of this study was to validate the use of PBMCs for gene expression analysis as a marker of nutritional intervention as an alternative to skeletal muscle tissue (SMT) biopsies. We performed a transcriptome comparison of PBMCs versus SMT after an 8-week supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in 16 obese and insulin-resistant subjects. Expression levels of 48,803 transcripts were assessed by the Human-6 v3 Expression BeadChips (Illumina, San Diego, CA). In SMT, 36,738 (75%) transcripts were detected, whereas 34,182 (70%) transcripts were detected in PBMCs. Further, 88% (32,341) of these transcripts were coexpressed in both tissues. Importantly, a strong correlation (r = 0.84, p < 0.0001) was observed between transcript expression levels of PBMCs and SMT after n-3 PUFA supplementation. In conclusion, PBMCs express the majority of transcripts expressed in SMT subsequent to n-3 PUFA supplementation and their expression levels are comparable. In the interest of practicalities and cost, these results support the use of PBMCs as a surrogate model for SMT gene expression in nutrigenomic studies. Further research on PBMC and SMT gene expression in response to other nutritional exposures is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (INAF), Laval University, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rudkowska
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raymond
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponton
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lavigne
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Holub
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marette
authors.forename: Marie-Claude
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vohl
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger