Small non-coding RNA expression in whole blood leukocytes of healthy subjects, critically-ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious etiology and human endotoxemia

Genome-wide gene expression profiling of whole blood leukocytes in critically ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious disease has been used extensively in search of diagnostic biomarkers, as well as prognostic signatures reflecting diseases severity and outcome. Through technological advances in genomics it has become clear that transcription is not limited to protein-coding regions of the genome. Here, we describe a comprehensive analysis of small non-coding RNA expression in blood leukocytes of critically ill patients with sepsis, a non-infectious condition, healthy subjects and experimental human endotoxemia Whole-blood transcriptional patterns of small non-coding RNA molecules in healthy subjects, critically-ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious conditions and experimental human endotoxemia (2ng/kg Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS)) were generated by means of the Affymetrix Multispecies miRNA-4_1 Array. Whole-blood from patients was collected within 24 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Whole blood of healthy male volunteers who participated in a human endotoxemia study was collected before and 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours after intravenous LPS administration. The Dutch Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (CCMO) and the Medical Ethics Committee of the Academic Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, approved the study. Title legend: healthy, healthy subjects; sepsis, ICU patients with sepsis; noninfectious, ICU patients with non-infectious condition; endo_0h, healthy subjects before LPS administration; endo_2h, endo_4h, endo_6h, endo_24h, healthy subjects after 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours LPS administration, respectively.