Gene expression profiling of the response to interferon beta in EBV-transformed and primary B cells of patients with multiple sclerosis

To identify gene expression changes and pathways induced by interferon-β (IFN-β) in B cells, we studied the in vitro response of EBV-transformed B cells (lymphoblast cell lines-LCLs). LCLs were derived from an MS patient repository. Whole genome expression analysis identified 115 genes that were more than two-fold differentially up-regulated following IFN-β exposure, with over 50 novel IFN-β response genes. Pathways analysis demonstrated that IFN-β affected LCLs in a similar manner to other cell types by activating known IFN-β canonical pathways. Additionally, IFN-β increased the expression of innate immune response genes, while down-regulating many B cell receptor pathway genes and genes involved in adaptive immune responses. Several of the novel response genes were tested and validated as IFN-β response genes in human primary B cells. Total RNA from LCL samples treated for four hours with interferon beta (100u/ml) was compared to RNA from untreated LCLs (paired analysis). LCL samples were from patients with MS.