Gene expression profiling of IL-18 stimulated, in vitro differentiated mouse mucosal mast cells (MMC)

The aim of the present study was to clarify the role of IL-18 in mouse mast cell functions. Mouse mucosal mast cells (Balb/c) were differentiated in the presence of IL-3 (5 ng/ml), SCF (40 ng/ml), IL-9 (10 ng/ml) and human TGFbetaI (2 ng/ml) for >4 weeks. Cells were then stimulated by 100 ng/ml IL-18 for 2 hours to monitor the direct effect of IL-18. Treated samples were compared to the untreated ones in a paired experimental setting. Keywords: expression microarray, mast cell, IL-18 Four biological replicates were included. IL-18 stimulated samples were labelled by Cy5 and the control ones by Cy3. We used the paired experimental setting: each treated sample was compared to its appropriate control.