Expression data from Gambian children with and without the clinical signs of active trachoma: U133 Plus2.0 array

Conjunctival samples from 60 individuals with and without the clinical signs of active trachoma were analysed on the U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. Global transcriptional changes characteristic of disease and infection phenotypes were identified. Two analysis methods found large numbers of differentially regulated genes and the existence of networks of co-expressed genes. There were signatures characteristic of the host defence response with evidence supporting infiltration of various types of leukocytes and activation of innate responses of epithelial cells. Two separate methods could classify disease and infection phenotype based on transcription signatures with 70% accuracy. These results provide an insight into the complexity of the acute response in trachoma but are able to partly explain the biology of trachoma through the identification of pathways and gene expression sets useful to future studies on chlamydial immunopathogenesis.

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Natividad A, Freeman TC, Jeffries D, Burton MJ, Mabey DC, Bailey RL, Holland MJ