Profiling of differentially expressed genes in sheep T lymphocytes response to Haemonchus contortus infection

Once Haemonchus contortus infects sheep it receives a series of host attacks, especially those relating to the infected animal’s T lymphocytes immune response. To obtain a systematic genome-wide profiling of the T lymphocyte genes involved, microarrays were used to compare gene expression between 0 days post infection (dpi), 3-5 dpi, 25-30 dpi and 60dpi in infected sheep. In this 853, 242 and 42 differentially expressed genes were acquired in the 3d vs. 0d comparison, the 30d vs. 0d comparison and the 60d vs. 0d comparison, respectively. Gene Ontology and pathway analysis indicated that modulated genes including SUGT1, FCER1G, CD23, IL-13 and galectin-14, were mostly associated with cellular homeostasis maintaining and immune response. Haemonchus contortus infection induced gene expression in sheep T lymphocytes was measured at 0, 3, 30 and 60 days post infection. Four time-series experiments were performed at each sheep (2#, 3# and 5#).