Small RNA Deep Sequencing Analysis of Mouse T follicular helper (TFH) cells

Small non-coding RNAs, esp. microRNAs (miRNAs), play critical roles in a large diversity of biological processes. The goal of this study is to perfrom small RNA deep sequencing analysis of mouse T follicular helper cells and to identify miRNAs that are highy and specifically expressed in these cells. Two to three month old C57BL/6 mice were immunized with OVA/alum/LPS intraperitoneally. On day 7 after immunization, naïve (CD4+CD44-CXCR5-PD1-), pre-TFH (CD4+CXCR5intPD1lo), and TFH (CD4+CXCR5hiPD1hi) cells were FACS-sorted from splenocytes. Total RNA was extracted using the TRIzol reagent and subjected to standard small RNA deep sequencing analysis.