Protein-coding and non-coding RNA expression in whole blood leukocytes of healthy subjects and critically-ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious etiology.

Genome-wide gene expression profiling of whole blood leukocytes in critically ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious disease has been used extensively in search of diagnostic biomarkers, as well as prognostic signatures reflecting diseases severity and outcome. Through technological advances in genomics it has become clear that transcription is not limited to protein-coding regions of the genome. Here, we describe a comprehensive analysis of RNA expression in blood leukocytes of critically ill patients with sepsis, a non-infectious condition and healthy subjects Whole-blood transcriptional patterns of protein-coding and non-coding RNA molecules in healthy subjects, critically-ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious conditions were generated by means of the human transcriptome array 2.0 (HTA 2.0) chip. Whole-blood from patients was collected within 24 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Title legend: healthy, healthy subjects; sepsis, ICU patients with sepsis; noninfectious, ICU patients with non-infectious condition.