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Isolation of Human Monocytes by Double Gradient Centrifugation and Their Differentiation to Macrophages in Teflon-coated Cell Culture Bags
Published on: September 9, 2014
Identification of genes predominantly expressed in human macrophages
Per-Arne Svensson1, Daniel A Hägg, Margareta Jernås
1Department of Internal Medicine, Research Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vita Stråket 12, Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University, S-41345 Göteborg, Sweden. per-arne.svensson@medic.gu.se
Abstract:
Identification of cell and tissue specific genes may provide novel insights to signaling systems and functions. Macrophages play a key role in many diseases including atherosclerosis. Using DNA microarrays we compared the expression of approximately 10,000 genes in 56 human tissues and identified 23 genes with predominant expression in macrophages. The identified genes include both genes known to be macrophage specific and genes previously not well described in this cell type. Tissue distribution of two genes, liver X receptor (LXR) alpha and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN), was verified by real-time RT-PCR. We conclude that comparison of expression profiles from a large number of tissues can be used to identify genes that are predominantly expressed in certain tissues. Identification of novel macrophage specific genes may increase our understanding of the role of this cell in different diseases.

