Expression data from CD4+ splenocytes 6h post-sepsis

Lymphocytes are adversely affected during sepsis. Some CD4+ splenocytes undergo apoptosis while others become Th2 polarized. The molecular determinants of these phenotypic changes are not known. Here we compare the transcriptional response of septic CD4 splenocytes to CD4 splenocytes from sham-manipulated animals 6h after sepsis and identify an early transcriptional component to the septic CD4+ splenocyte phenotype. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression underlying the sepsis-induced changes in CD4+ splenocyte phenotype. Keywords: disease state analysis CD4+ splenocytes were isolated 6h after the surgical induction of sepsis for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to obtain a homogeneous cell population in order to reduce any effects of cellular heterogeneity on expression profiles. To that end, immunomagnetic negative selection was used to enrich CD4+ splenocyte populations to ~91%. (n=5 biological replicates each CLP and sham)