Gene Expression Analysis to Assess the Relevance of Rodent Models to Human Lung Injury. American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology Sweeney, T. E., Lofgren, S., Khatri, P., Rogers, A. J. 2017

Abstract

Rationale The relevance of animal models to human diseases is an area of intense scientific debate. The degree to which mouse models of lung injury recapitulate human lung injury has never been assessed. Integrating data from both human and animal expression studies allows for increased statistical power and identification of conserved differential gene expression across organisms and conditions. Objectives Comprehensive integration of gene expression data in experimental ALI in rodents compared to humans. Methods We performed two separate gene expression multi-cohort analyses to determine differential gene expression in experimental animal and human lung injury. We used correlational and pathway analyses combined with external in vitro gene expression data to identify both potential drivers of underlying inflammation and therapeutic drug candidates. Main Results We identified 21 animal lung tissue datasets and 3 human lung injury BAL datasets. We show that the meta-signatures of animal and human experimental ALI are significantly correlated despite these widely varying experimental conditions. The gene expression changes among mice and rats across diverse injury models (ozone, VILI, LPS) are significantly correlated with human models of lung injury (Pearson r 0.33-0.45, P<1e-16). Neutrophil signatures are enriched in both animal and human lung injury. Predicted therapeutic targets, peptide ligand signatures, and pathway analyses are also all highly overlapping. Conclusions Gene expression changes are similar in animal and human experimental ALI, and provide several physiologic and therapeutic insights to the disease.

View details for DOI 10.1165/rcmb.2016-0395OC

View details for PubMedID 28324666