Identification of genes showing an age related expression in iNKT1, 2, and 17 cells of BALB/c thymus. Identification of genes showing an age related expression in iNKT1, 2, and 17 cells of BALB/c thymus

In this study we applied RNA high-throughput seqencing to compare the global gene expression of young adult and aged iNKT subset in thymus of BALB/c mice. We found that only a small number of genes exerted a profound and statistically significant up- or downregulation upon ageing whereas a plethora of minor changes in the gene expression pattern were evident. However, significant age-related differences in expression of a variety of genes such as Histone genes, Gzma, CD25 and others might correlate with functional adaptations to the drastically altering thmyus micro-environment during aging. Overall design: Surface markers CD4 and CD122 were used to sort by flow cytometry CD3+tet+DAPI-B220- thymocytes of young adult and aged BALB/c mice to obtain iNKT1, iNKT2 and iNKT17 cells. Total RNA was prepared and quality controlled aliquots used for sequencing.

本研究采用RNA高通量测序（RNA high-throughput sequencing）技术，对BALB/c小鼠胸腺内年轻成年与老年iNKT细胞亚群的全局基因表达谱开展比较分析。研究发现，仅少数基因随衰老进程呈现显著且具统计学意义的表达上调或下调，而基因表达模式中存在大量细微变化。然而，组蛋白基因（Histone genes）、Gzma、CD25等多种基因的表达存在显著的年龄相关差异，这些差异或与衰老过程中胸腺微环境剧烈改变所介导的功能适应性调控相关。
实验设计：借助表面标志物CD4与CD122，通过流式细胞术（flow cytometry）分选年轻成年与老年BALB/c小鼠的CD3+tet+DAPI-B220-胸腺细胞，以获取iNKT1、iNKT2及iNKT17细胞亚群。提取总RNA并完成质量控制后，取合格等分样品用于测序。