The Peripheral Blood Transcriptome Predicts the Presence and Extent of Disease in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Peripheral blood biomarkers are needed to identify and determine the extent of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Current physiologic and radiographic prognostic indicators diagnose IPF too late in the course of disease. These results demonstrate that the peripheral blood transcriptome can distinguish normal individuals from patients with IPF, as well as extent of disease when samples were classified by percent predicted DLCO, but not FVC. Gene expression profiles of peripheral blood RNA from 93 IPF patients were collected on Agilent microarrays. Blood was collected in PAXRNA tubes. 30 healthy controls are compared to IPF patients classified by disease severity when categorized by DLCO or FVC.