Expression profile of IL-1beta stimulated and non-stimulated endothelial cells

Complete identification of the bone marrow niche remains one of the most progressing fields. Attempts to identify soluble factors involved in stem cell renewal have been less successful. We have previously shown that endothelial cells (EC) can induce the long-term proliferation of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), especially when they had been subjected to an inflammatory stimulus like interleukins (IL) 1. To identify yet unknown growth factors, we compared the expression profile of IL-1 stimulated and non-stimulated endothelial cells. Human endothelial cells were subjected to IL-1 for 4, 8, and 16 hours. Isolated mRNA was analyzed by oligonucleotide microarray chips covering over 46,000 human genes.