A systemic lupus erythematosus gene expression array in disease diagnosis and classification: a preliminary report

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a clinically heterogeneous disease diagnosed on the presence of a constellation of clinical and laboratory findings. At the pathogenetic level, multiple factors using diverse biochemical and molecular pathways have been recognized. Succinct recognition and classification of clinical disease subsets, as well as the availability of disease biomarkers, remains largely unsolved. Based on information produced by the present authors' and other laboratories, a lupus gene expression array consisting of 30 genes, previously claimed to contribute to aberrant function of T cells, was developed. An additional eight genes were included as controls. Peripheral blood was obtained from 10 patients (19 samples) with SLE and six patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as well as 19 healthy controls. T cell mRNA was subjected to reverse transcription and PCR, and the gene expression levels were measured. Conventional statistical analysis was performed along with principal component analysis (PCA) to capture the contribution of all genes to disease diagnosis and clinical parameters. The lupus gene expression array faithfully informed on the expression levels of genes. The recorded changes in expression reflect those reported in the literature by using a relatively small (5 ml) amount of peripheral blood. PCA of gene expression levels placed SLE samples apart from normal and RA samples regardless of disease activity. Individual principal components tended to define specific disease manifestations such as arthritis and proteinuria. Thus, a lupus gene expression array based on genes previously claimed to contribute to immune pathogenesis of SLE may define the disease, and principal components of the expression of 30 genes may define patients with specific disease manifestations.