Lung Tissue Gene Expression Profiles in Mice Exposed to Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes.

Pulmonary exposure to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) is established to cause local acute and chronic inflammation, fibroproliferative responses, immunotoxicity, and systemic responses in rodent studies. However, the search for representative biomarkers of exposure is an ongoing endeavor. Whole blood gene expression profiling is a promising new approach for the identification of novel disease biomarkers over more invasive methods. We asked if the whole blood transcriptome reflects pathology-specific changes in lung gene expression caused by aspiration of MWCNT. To answer this question, we performed mRNA sequencing analysis of the whole blood and lung tissue in a murine model of MWCNT bolus pharyngeal aspiration. Global gene expression profiles in the lungs of mice 56 days after administration of 40 µg of multi-walled carbon nanotubes via pharyngeal aspiration, were compared with expression profiles of mice administered vehicle solution.