Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis
Background. Unbiased studies using different genome-wide methods have identified a great number of candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment response in pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC). However, clinical translation has been proven difficult. Here, we hypothesized that one reason could be d...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Immunology Research |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/8279619 |
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| author | Xinxiu Li Eun Jung Lee Danuta R. Gawel Sandra Lilja Samuel Schäfer Huan Zhang Mikael Benson |
| author_facet | Xinxiu Li Eun Jung Lee Danuta R. Gawel Sandra Lilja Samuel Schäfer Huan Zhang Mikael Benson |
| author_sort | Xinxiu Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background. Unbiased studies using different genome-wide methods have identified a great number of candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment response in pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC). However, clinical translation has been proven difficult. Here, we hypothesized that one reason could be differences between inflammatory responses in an inflamed gut and in peripheral blood cells. Methods. We performed meta-analysis of gene expression microarray data from intestinal biopsies and whole blood cells (WBC) from pediatric patients with UC and healthy controls in order to identify overlapping pathways, predicted upstream regulators, and potential biomarkers. Results. Analyses of profiling datasets from colonic biopsies showed good agreement between different studies regarding pathways and predicted upstream regulators. The most activated predicted upstream regulators included TNF, which is known to have a key pathogenic and therapeutic role in pediatric UC. Despite this, the expression levels of TNF were increased in neither colonic biopsies nor WBC. A potential explanation was increased expression of TNFR2, one of the membrane-bound receptors of TNF in the inflamed colon. Further analyses showed a similar pattern of complex relations between the expression levels of the regulators and their receptors. We also found limited overlap between pathways and predicted upstream regulators in colonic biopsies and WBC. An extended search including all differentially expressed genes that overlapped between colonic biopsies and WBC only resulted in identification of three potential biomarkers involved in the regulation of intestinal inflammation. However, two had been previously proposed in adult inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), namely, MMP9 and PROK2. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that biomarker identification in pediatric UC is complicated by the involvement of multiple pathways, each of which includes many different types of genes in the blood or inflamed intestine. Therefore, further studies for identification of combinatorial biomarkers are warranted. Our study may provide candidate biomarkers for such studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7f46128d37064a5cb98f40244e250582 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2314-8861 2314-7156 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Immunology Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-7f46128d37064a5cb98f40244e2505822025-02-03T01:30:30ZengWileyJournal of Immunology Research2314-88612314-71562020-01-01202010.1155/2020/82796198279619Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative ColitisXinxiu Li0Eun Jung Lee1Danuta R. Gawel2Sandra Lilja3Samuel Schäfer4Huan Zhang5Mikael Benson6Centre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCentre for Personalized Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenBackground. Unbiased studies using different genome-wide methods have identified a great number of candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment response in pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC). However, clinical translation has been proven difficult. Here, we hypothesized that one reason could be differences between inflammatory responses in an inflamed gut and in peripheral blood cells. Methods. We performed meta-analysis of gene expression microarray data from intestinal biopsies and whole blood cells (WBC) from pediatric patients with UC and healthy controls in order to identify overlapping pathways, predicted upstream regulators, and potential biomarkers. Results. Analyses of profiling datasets from colonic biopsies showed good agreement between different studies regarding pathways and predicted upstream regulators. The most activated predicted upstream regulators included TNF, which is known to have a key pathogenic and therapeutic role in pediatric UC. Despite this, the expression levels of TNF were increased in neither colonic biopsies nor WBC. A potential explanation was increased expression of TNFR2, one of the membrane-bound receptors of TNF in the inflamed colon. Further analyses showed a similar pattern of complex relations between the expression levels of the regulators and their receptors. We also found limited overlap between pathways and predicted upstream regulators in colonic biopsies and WBC. An extended search including all differentially expressed genes that overlapped between colonic biopsies and WBC only resulted in identification of three potential biomarkers involved in the regulation of intestinal inflammation. However, two had been previously proposed in adult inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), namely, MMP9 and PROK2. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that biomarker identification in pediatric UC is complicated by the involvement of multiple pathways, each of which includes many different types of genes in the blood or inflamed intestine. Therefore, further studies for identification of combinatorial biomarkers are warranted. Our study may provide candidate biomarkers for such studies.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/8279619 |
| spellingShingle | Xinxiu Li Eun Jung Lee Danuta R. Gawel Sandra Lilja Samuel Schäfer Huan Zhang Mikael Benson Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Journal of Immunology Research |
| title | Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis |
| title_full | Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis |
| title_fullStr | Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis |
| title_short | Meta-Analysis of Expression Profiling Data Indicates Need for Combinatorial Biomarkers in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis |
| title_sort | meta analysis of expression profiling data indicates need for combinatorial biomarkers in pediatric ulcerative colitis |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/8279619 |
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