Determination of blood cell gene expression profiles during early life of premature infants who develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)

To investigate early blood biomarkers of BPD development, RNA from cord blood cells or peripheral blood cells of premature infants was subjected to RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and data were analyzed with 9 covariates including gestational age (GA), sex, birth weight (BW), estimated CD4+T cell%, CD8+T cell%, B cell%, monocyte%, granulocyte%, and nucleated red blood cell (NRBC)%. The effect of prolonged oxygen (>14 days O2) treatment in newborn intensive care unit on blood cell transcriptome was determined among nonBPD preterm infants. Differential gene expression profiles were determined by RNA-seq of two independent analyses in an Argentina preterm infant cohort : Analysis 1- Two treatment groups, BPD and nonBPD, at three time points (cord blood, postnatal day 14, and postnatal day 28), Analysis 2 - Two O2 treatment level groups (no-O2 vs High-O2) were compared among nonBPD neonates on postnatal day 14.