Comparison of Non-Human Primate and Human Whole Blood Tissue Gene Expression Profiles

摘要

Gene expression profiling is utilized in the development of medical countermeasures against chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Non human primates (NHPs), specifically the rhesus macaque, the cynomologus macaque and the African green monkey, are vital models in the development of CWA prophylactics, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Gene expression profiling of NHPs is complicated by the fact that the genomes of these NHPs are not completely sequenced, and no oligonucleotide microarrays (genechips) are commercially available. We sought to determine whether gene expression profiling of NHP could be carried out using human genechips. Whole blood tissue RNA was isolated from each species of primate and used to generate genechip probes. Hybridization of the NHP samples to the human gene chips (Affymetrix Human U133 Plus 2.0 arrays) resulted in comparable numbers of transcripts detected when compared with human samples. Statistical analysis revealed intraspecies reproducibility of genechip quality control metrics; interspecies comparison between NHPs and humans showed little significant difference in the quality and reproducibility of data generated using human genechips. These results show that human genechips can be used for gene expression profiling of NHP samples and provide a foundation for the development of tools for the comparison of human and NHP gene expression profiles.