Expression data from mouse intestinal epithelial cells infected with Trichinella spiralis. Mus musculus

Trichinella spiralis is a highly destructive parasitic nematode that invades and destroys intestinal epithelial cells, injures many different tissues during its migratory phase, and occupies and transforms myotubes during the final phase of its life cycle. Mice deficient in the IL-1 family receptor for the DAMP, IL-33 (called ST2), display reduced intestinal Th2 responses and impaired mast cell activation. IL-33 was constitutively expressed in intestinal epithelial cells, where it became concentrated in nuclei within 2 days of infection. Nuclear localization was an innate response to infection that occurred in intestinal regions where worms were actively migrating. We isolated intestinal epithelial cells from uninfected mice (cytoplasmic IL-33) and mice at 2 days post-infection (nuclear IL-33) to compare global expression profiles. We used microarrays to characterize the global gene expression that occurs in intestinal epithelial cells following T. spiralis-induced nuclear translocation of IL-33. Overall design: Intestinal epithelial cells were isolated from Rag2-/- mice at day zero (uninfected) or two days post-infection with T. ispiralis for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.