title: Transcriptomic profiling of peripheral blood CD4⁺ T-cells in asthmatics with and without depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cumulative studies have shown that asthma is associated with depression but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether asthma with depression is characterized by unique pathophysiological pathways by analyzing the global gene expression patterns of CD4(+) T-cells from asthmatics with or without depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four groups of subjects (non-depressive asthmatics, depressive asthmatics, depression patients, and healthy controls) consisting of 6 participants in each group were studied. Peripheral CD4(+) T-cells were isolated and the global transcriptomic profiles were defined by using the Agilent SurePrint G3 Human GE 8x60K microarray. The differences in transcriptomic profiles between asthma with or without depression, depression patients and healthy controls were examined. Pathway enrichment analyses of differentially expressed genes were performed using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Selected genes were verified and correlated to the clinical characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1448 differentially expressed transcripts were identified in any of the non-depressive asthma vs. healthy control, depressive asthma vs. healthy control, or depression vs. healthy control comparisons after correction for multiple comparisons. Among these, 156 were demonstrated as differentially expressed genes only in depressive asthma vs. healthy control. Twenty significant biological pathways were identified and were involved in inflammation, metabolism, immunity, tumor and cell cycle. Increased expression of phosphoinositide-3-kinase, regulatory subunit 1 (alpha) was confirmed in depressive asthmatics and it was inversely correlated with lung function (FEV1/FVC%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asthmatics with depression exhibit unique pathophysiological pathways and this result may provide clues for specific molecular mechanisms underlying asthma with depression.
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China.
authors: Ting
authors: T
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China.
authors: Yu-Lin
authors: YL
authors: Ji
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China.
authors: Yin-Yin
authors: YY
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China.
authors: Xing-Yu
authors: XY
authors: Xiong
authors: Informatics and Analysis, Merck and Co. Inc., West Point, PA, USA.
authors: I-Ming
authors: IM
authors: Wang
authors: Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, University of British Columbia and St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors: Andrew J
authors: AJ
authors: Sandford
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China. Electronic address: liangzongan@163.com.
authors: Zong-An
authors: ZA
authors: Liang
authors: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical School/West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China. Electronic address: jianqing.he@hli.ubc.ca.
authors: Jian-Qing
authors: JQ
authors: He
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Asthma; CD4-positive T-lymphocytes; Gene expression; Psychology; Transcriptome