TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROFILING OF EGG ALLERGY AND RELATIONSHIP TO DISEASE PHENOTYPE

The transcriptional response to egg differed between PBMCs from egg allergic and clinically tolerant subjects. Differentially expressed genes included IL-9 and TNFg. Enrichment analysis of differentially expressed gene signatures and associated co-expressed gene modules revealed an association of egg allergy with unique immune pathways. In addition to showing a positive association of egg-induced gene transcription in allergic individuals with Th2 CD4+ T cells and a novel negative association with induced Tregs, this approach identified a highly significant overlap with genes induced by TLR4 stimulation of myeloid cells. PBMCs were obtained from egg allergic children, some of whom are baked egg responsive (BER) and some are baked egg tolerant (BET), as well as food allergic controls (AC) who were clinically tolerant to egg. PBMCs were stimulated with egg antigen, gene transcription measured by microarray after 24 hours, and cytokine secretion by multiplex assay after 5 day incubation.