Project description:Background. Chronic fatiguing illness remains a poorly understood syndrome of unknown pathogenesis. We attempted to identify biomarkers for chronic fatiguing illness using microarrays to query the transcriptome in peripheral blood leukocytes. Methods. Cases were 44 individuals who were clinically evaluated and found to meet standard international criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or idiopathic chronic fatigue, and controls were their monozygotic co-twins who were clinically evaluated and never had even one month of impairing fatigue. Biological sampling conditions were standardized and RNA stabilizing media were used. These methodological features provide rigorous control for bias resulting from case-control mismatched ancestry and experimental error. Individual gene expression profiles were assessed using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. Findings. There were no significant differences in gene expression for any transcript. Conclusions. Contrary to our expectations, we were unable to identify a biomarker for chronic fatiguing illness in the transcriptome of peripheral blood leukocytes suggesting that positive findings in prior studies may have resulted from experimental bias. Cases were 44 individuals who were clinically evaluated and found to meet standard international criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or idiopathic chronic fatigue, and controls were their monozygotic co-twins who were clinically evaluated and never had even one month of impairing fatigue.
Project description:Genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation profiles from patients with Sjögren's syndrome with high versus low fatigue levels using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 Beadchip array. Background Chronic fatigue is a common, disabling, and poorly understood phenomenon. Recent studies indicate that epigenetic mechanisms may be involved in the expression of fatigue, a prominent feature of primary Sjögrenâs syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation profiles of whole blood are associated with fatigue in patients with pSS. Methods 48 pSS patients with high (n=24) or low (n=24) fatigue as measured by a visual analogue scale were included. Genome-wide DNA methylation was investigated using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array. Case-case study including Sjögren's patients with high fatigue (n=24) and patients with low fatigue levels (n=24)
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
Project description:Background. Chronic fatiguing illness remains a poorly understood syndrome of unknown pathogenesis. We attempted to identify biomarkers for chronic fatiguing illness using microarrays to query the transcriptome in peripheral blood leukocytes. Methods. Cases were 44 individuals who were clinically evaluated and found to meet standard international criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or idiopathic chronic fatigue, and controls were their monozygotic co-twins who were clinically evaluated and never had even one month of impairing fatigue. Biological sampling conditions were standardized and RNA stabilizing media were used. These methodological features provide rigorous control for bias resulting from case-control mismatched ancestry and experimental error. Individual gene expression profiles were assessed using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. Findings. There were no significant differences in gene expression for any transcript. Conclusions. Contrary to our expectations, we were unable to identify a biomarker for chronic fatiguing illness in the transcriptome of peripheral blood leukocytes suggesting that positive findings in prior studies may have resulted from experimental bias.
Project description:Fatigue is a debilitating condition with a significant impact on patientsâ quality of life. Fatigue is frequently reported by patients suffering from primary Sjo Ìgrenâs Syndrome (pSS), a chronic autoimmune condition characterised by dryness of the eyes and the mouth. However, although fatigue is common in pSS, it does not manifest in all sufferers, providing an excellent model with which to explore the potential underpinning biological mechanisms. Whole blood samples from 131 fully-phenotyped pSS patients, stratified for the presence of fatigue, collected by the UK primary Sj Ìogrenâs Syndrome Registry were used for whole genome microarray. The resulting data were analysed both on a gene by gene basis and using pre-defined groups of genes. Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used as a feature selection technique for input into a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Classification was assessed using area under curve (AUC) of receiver operator characteristic and standard error of Wilcoxon statistic, SE(W). Contributor: The UK Primary Sjögrenâs syndrome registry
Project description:Genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation profiles from patients with Sjögren's syndrome with high versus low fatigue levels using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 Beadchip array. Background Chronic fatigue is a common, disabling, and poorly understood phenomenon. Recent studies indicate that epigenetic mechanisms may be involved in the expression of fatigue, a prominent feature of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation profiles of whole blood are associated with fatigue in patients with pSS. Methods 48 pSS patients with high (n=24) or low (n=24) fatigue as measured by a visual analogue scale were included. Genome-wide DNA methylation was investigated using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array.