Objective: To discover the etiology of allergic rhinitis(AR) at the genomic level.
Methods: Microarray analysis on a genomic scale was used to find changes in genes expression in AR. The total RNAs were isolated from nasal mucosa of AR and normal, then purified to mRNAs and were reversely transcribed to cDNAs with the incorporation of fluorescent-labeled dUTP to prepare for the hybridization probes. The genes differential expressed in AR were screened with the gene chip which contained 12,800 human genes in all 8 samples.
Result: 734 genes were shown in differential expressed profile with 430 upregulated genes and 304 downregulated genes, and all 8 samples were 15 genes upregulated and 6 genes downregulated. The differential expressed genes involved in the functions of inflammation, immunology, neuroendocrine and signal conduct, and they had potential value in AR study.
Conclusion: The investigation based on gene chip in researching related genes in AR afforded a new idea in studying pathogenesis of nasal allergic diseases.