Transcriptomic profile of cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells undergoing repair

The purpose of the study is to compare the transcriptomic profile of the airway epithelium generated from bronchial airway epithelial cells isolated from healthy donors (NCF) and patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Cells were grown at the air-liquid interface for at least 2-months. CF is caused by mutations of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Only patients homozygous for the F508del mutation of the CFTR gene were considered. The reconstituted airway epithelium was mechanically wounded and allowed to repair with time. We considered four steps: 1) intact, non-wounded (NW) epithelium; 2) 24h hours post-wounding (pW); 3) time at which the wound is closed (WC); 4) two days post-wound closure (pWC). We also mimicked infection by exposing the cells to Pseudominas aeruginosa flagelin for NW and WC conditions. mRNA profiles between NCF and CF cultures at different steps of the repair process (NW, pW, WC, pWC) were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina.