title: Gene expression changes associated with the airway wall response to injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding the way in which the airway heals in response to injury is fundamental to dissecting the mechanisms underlying airway disease pathology. As only limited data is available in relation to the in vivo characterisation of the molecular features of repair in the airway we sought to characterise the dynamic changes in gene expression that are associated with the early response to physical injury in the airway wall.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We profiled gene expression changes in the airway wall using a large animal model of physical injury comprising bronchial brush biopsy in anaesthetised sheep. The experimental design featured sequential studies in the same animals over the course of a week and yielded data relating to the response at 6 hours, and 1, 3 and 7 days after injury. Notable features of the transcriptional response included the early and sustained preponderance of down-regulated genes associated with angiogenesis and immune cell activation, selection and differentiation. Later features of the response included the up-regulation of cell cycle genes at d1 and d3, and the latter pronounced up-regulation of extracellular matrix-related genes at d3 and d7.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is possible to follow the airway wall response to physical injury in the same animal over the course of time. Transcriptional changes featured coordinate expression of functionally related genes in a reproducible manner both within and between animals. This characterisation will provide a foundation against which to assess the perturbations that accompany airway disease pathologies of comparative relevance.
authors.affiliation: Cluster for Regenerative Medicine, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bandar Putra Bertam, Kepala Batas, Penang, Malaysia. badrul@amdi.usm.edu.my
authors.forename: Badrul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yahaya
authors.forename: Gerry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McLachlan
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McCorquodale
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Collie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008871:Microvilli / Q000235:genetics; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000293:injuries* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000235:genetics*