Gene expression in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm - more than immunological mechanisms involved

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a serious condition of unclear pathogenesis and progression. Two samples were collected from 48 patients during AAA surgery. One sample was collected from the aneurysm, the other from the aneurysm proximal neck where the tissue did not exhibit any aneurysmal changes. Subsequently, gene expression profiles using microarrays (Illumina) were compared in RNA extracted from the samples. Overall, 2,185 genes were found to be upregulated and 2,100 downregulated; from which 158 genes had a different expression with FDR<0.05 (False Discovery Rate) and FC>/=2 (Fold Change). Of this number, 115 genes were over-expressed and 43 under-expressed. The analysis of the gene list based on their biological pathways revealed that the regulation of inflammation was mediated by chemokine and cytokine signaling pathways, the integrin signaling pathway, and T and B cell activation. Moreover, a change was identified in the expression of genes involved in both intercellular and intracellular signaling systems.