Blood genomic expression profile for Behçet’s disease.

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic immuno-inflammatory disorder characterized by a generalized vasculitis, particularly at the orogenital mucosa and eye. It is a complex disease with unclear pathogenesis. To better understand BD´s etiology, we performed genomic expression profiling of patients and controls. Gene expression profiling was performed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 15 patients and 14 sex- and age-matched controls using Affymetrix microarrays. The ages of the patients and controls do not match on a one-to-one basis, but they match very well on average. The average age at examination of cases and controls is 37y.