Journal Article

Persistent mRNA and miRNA expression changes in irradiated baboons

Abend, Michael, Valente, Marco, Port, Matthias, Majewski, Matthäus, Hérodin, Francis, Ostheim, Patrick, Drouet, Michel

2018

Overview

We examined the transcriptome/post-transcriptome for persistent gene expression changes after radiation exposure in a baboon model. Eighteen baboons were irradiated with a whole body equivalent dose of 2.5 or 5 Gy. Blood samples were taken before, 7, 28 and 75–106 days after radiation exposure. Stage I was a whole genome screening for mRNA combined with a qRT-PCR platform for detection of 667 miRNAs. Candidate mRNAs and miRNAs differentially up- or down-regulated in stage I were chosen for validation in stage II using the remaining samples. Only 12 of 32 candidate genes provided analyzable results with two mRNAs showing significant 3–5-fold differences in gene expression over the reference (p < 0.0001). From 667 candidate miRNAs, 290 miRNA were eligible for analysis with 21 miRNAs independently validated using qRT-PCR. These miRNAs showed persistent expression changes on each day and over days 7–106 days after exposure (n = 7). In particular miR-212 involved in radiosensitivity and immune modulation appeared persistently and 48–77-fold up-regulated over the entire time period. We are finally trying to put our results into a context of clinical implications and provide possible hints on underlying molecular mechanisms to be examined in future studies.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 38/61 / 38/77 / 38/90 / 38/91 / 631/208/199 / 631/208/212 / Body Equivalent Dose / Candidate mRNA / Gene expression / Genomes / Humanities and Social Sciences / Immunomodulation / miRNA / miRNA Expression Changes / Molecular modelling / multidisciplinary / Persistent Gene Expression / Protein-coding mRNAs / Radiosensitivity / Science / Science (multidisciplinary)