Regulatory T cell-mediated resolution of lung injury: Identification of potential target genes via expression profiling

We examined early and late gene expression changes using the IT LPS model of Acute Lung Injury (ALI). In this model, injury peaks at day 4 and is almost completely resolved by day 10 in wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice. In contrast to the pattern in WT mice, lymphocyte-deficient Rag-1 -/- mice exhibit strikingly delayed resolution despite similar initial injury. Total RNA was isolated from mouse lung at time 0, 1, 4, and 10 days following LPS treatment of wild type and Rag-1 null mice using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen Life Technologies), then purified using RNAeasy columns (Qiagen) with DNase I treatment according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The quality of RNA was assessed using an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies).