Gene expression profiles of subjects exposed to Arsenic through drinking water in Pakistan

Ground water Arsenic toxicity is the global problem and millions of people are exposed to elevated levels through drinking water than WHO permiscible limit of 10µg/L. The exposure is associated with various cancerous and non-cancerous diseases. It may alter the gene expression profile of invidual and suppress the activity of various genes giving rise to different diseases. Pakistan, a developing country in South Asian region, also have different areas reported to have elevated Ground water As. levels since 2005. The Present Study aimed to investigate Transcriptome profile of the exposed subjects in two districts of Punjab Province Pakistan. i.e Lahore and Kasur. The population was stratified into three exposure groups comprising Low, Medium and High exposure based on their urinary arsenic levels. We used Agilent Microarrays platform for Transcriptomics analysis and Linear mixed model was used to find differential gene expression associated with Arsenic exposure Whole blood samples stored in RNA later were collected form the respected exposure groups and transported to Department of Toxicogenomics Maastricht University, The Netherlands for further analysis. Total RNA was Isolated using Ribopure Blood RNA kit. Agilent one colour Microarrays protocol was used for Labeling, Hybridization and scanning.