Healthy volunteers gene expression study of CD4 and NK lymphocytes

Sixteen volunteers, that were age, gender and BMI matched, were included in the study. Blood samples were taken one per each volunteer on three different days to also assess variability of gene expression markers in one individual. In all datasets variability between volunteers was higher than variability of measurables in samples collected from the same volunteer on different days. We have identified genes in individuals that are highly stable during one month period and are thus suitable as markers of individual disease/therapy progress. A list of genes with low overall variability is also available. Interestingly, data show that important components of immune response are down-regulated with BMI in T helper and NK cells. This paper also gives the first insight into the gene expression profile of T helper and NK cells in healthy population. CD4 and NK lymphocytes were isolated with positive selection using magnetic nanoparticle based kits from StemCell Inc. (Canada) and frozen to -80°C until total RNA extraction.