Microarray analysis in spinal cords of sporadic ALS patients with cell-type specific transcriptome

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24591259
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neurology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: YAMASHITA Hirofumi 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (60402913)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YAMANAKA Koji 名古屋大学, 環境医学研究所, 教授 (80446533)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 筋萎縮性側索硬化症 / マイクロアレイ / アストロサイト / ミクログリア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We employed unbiased screening to identify significantly misregulated 173 genes in sporadic ALS spinal cords with microarray. Similar experiments have been done before, therefore we went further by newly focusing on the cell-types that express misregulated genes. With cell-type specific transcriptome, we could analyze the microarray data from spinal cord samples composed of heterogenous cell-types in full detail. Nearly half of the misregulated genes in ALS spinal cords were expressesd abunduntly in microglia or astrocytes. Many of those genes were also changed in ALS mouse models. We confirmed that the prediction for the cell type abundantly expressing the genes were correct by the immunohistochemistry for CLEC7A, GPR65, NOX2, CHI3L1, Oncostatin M receptor, CEBPD, and calponin 3 with ALS mouse spinal cords.
We could present the useful methods for analyzing microarray data derived from spinal cord samples composed of heterogenous cell-types.

Free Research Field

臨床神経学