TY - JOUR
T1 - Inflammation and transcriptional responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in classic ataxia telangiectasia
AU - McGrath-Morrow, Sharon A.
AU - Ndeh, Roland
AU - Collaco, Joseph M.
AU - Rothblum-Oviatt, Cynthia
AU - Wright, Jennifer
AU - O’Reilly, Michael A.
AU - Singer, Benjamin D.
AU - Lederman, Howard M.
N1 - Funding Information:
SAMM is supported by the A-T Children’s Project, Coconut Creek, Florida and by NIH/NHLBI grant 2RO1HL114800. BDS is supported by NIH/ NHLBI grant K08HL128867 and the Parker B. Francis Research Opportunity Award. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 McGrath-Morrow et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/12
Y1 - 2018/12
N2 - Introduction Classic ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by early onset ataxia, immune deficiency, sino-pulmonary disease, lymphoid/solid malignancies and telangiectasias. Prior studies have suggested that chronic inflammation and premature aging may contribute to the development of malignancy and pulmonary disease in people with A-T. To further examine the link between A-T and inflammation, we hypothesized that subjects with classic A-T would have greater enrichment of inflammatory pathways in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) compared to non A-T age-matched controls. To test this hypothesis we used RNAseq as an unsupervised approach to identify biological processes altered in people with classic A-T. Methods PBMCs were isolated from subjects with classic A-T and compared to non-A-T age-matched healthy controls. RNAseq with differential gene expression analyses was then performed. Selected genes were validated by RT-qPCR using cohorts of subjects consisting of classic A-T, mild A-T or non-A-T controls. Subjects with mild A-T were characterized by later onset/mild neurologic features and normal/near normal immune status. Results RNAseq revealed 310 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) including genes involved in inflammation, immune regulation, and cancer. Using gene set enrichment analysis, A-T subjects were found to have biological processes enriched for inflammatory and malignancy pathways. In examining a cohort of A-T subjects in which baseline serum IL8 and IL6 levels were measured previously, an association was found between higher serum IL8 levels and higher likelihood of developing malignancy and/or death in a subsequent 4–6 year period. Conclusion RNAseq using PBMCs from subjects with classic A-T uncovered differential expression of immune response genes and biological processes associated with inflammation, immune regulation, and cancer. Follow-up of A-T subjects over a 4–6 year period revealed an association between higher baseline serum IL8 levels and malignancy/death. These findings support a role for inflammation as a contributing factor in A-T phenotypes.
AB - Introduction Classic ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by early onset ataxia, immune deficiency, sino-pulmonary disease, lymphoid/solid malignancies and telangiectasias. Prior studies have suggested that chronic inflammation and premature aging may contribute to the development of malignancy and pulmonary disease in people with A-T. To further examine the link between A-T and inflammation, we hypothesized that subjects with classic A-T would have greater enrichment of inflammatory pathways in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) compared to non A-T age-matched controls. To test this hypothesis we used RNAseq as an unsupervised approach to identify biological processes altered in people with classic A-T. Methods PBMCs were isolated from subjects with classic A-T and compared to non-A-T age-matched healthy controls. RNAseq with differential gene expression analyses was then performed. Selected genes were validated by RT-qPCR using cohorts of subjects consisting of classic A-T, mild A-T or non-A-T controls. Subjects with mild A-T were characterized by later onset/mild neurologic features and normal/near normal immune status. Results RNAseq revealed 310 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) including genes involved in inflammation, immune regulation, and cancer. Using gene set enrichment analysis, A-T subjects were found to have biological processes enriched for inflammatory and malignancy pathways. In examining a cohort of A-T subjects in which baseline serum IL8 and IL6 levels were measured previously, an association was found between higher serum IL8 levels and higher likelihood of developing malignancy and/or death in a subsequent 4–6 year period. Conclusion RNAseq using PBMCs from subjects with classic A-T uncovered differential expression of immune response genes and biological processes associated with inflammation, immune regulation, and cancer. Follow-up of A-T subjects over a 4–6 year period revealed an association between higher baseline serum IL8 levels and malignancy/death. These findings support a role for inflammation as a contributing factor in A-T phenotypes.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0209496
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0209496
M3 - Article
C2 - 30586396
AN - SCOPUS:85059221804
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 12
M1 - e0209496
ER -