Advanced Gene Profiling Technique Highlights Genetic Differences between Low and High Responders to the Rubella Vaccine

A set of 27 genes have been identified that are expressed differently in individuals that display low or high immune responses following vaccination with a standard rubella vaccine.

Investigators at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) worked with a group of 738 healthy children and young adults who had had two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine. From this population they selected 25 individuals with either high or low titers of antirubella antibodies. They performed mRNA-Seq profiling on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (white blood cells) from the subjects in order to delineate transcriptional differences upon viral stimulation.


Results published in the May 1, 2013, online edition of the journal PLOS ONE revealed that of 17,566 detected genes, 1,080 were differentially expressed with high significance upon viral stimulation. These included various immune function and inflammation-related genes; genes involved in cell signaling, cell regulation, and transcription; and genes with unknown function. Further analysis by immune outcome and stimulation status identified 27 genes that responded differently to viral stimulation in high versus low antibody responders, including major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes and two genes related to innate immunity and inflammation.

Pathway and gene set analysis also revealed transcriptional differences in antigen presentation and innate/inflammatory gene sets and pathways between high and low responders. The use of mRNA-Seq genome-wide transcriptional profiling enabled identification of antigen presentation and innate/inflammatory genes that may assist in explaining rubella vaccine-induced immune response variations.


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