Research and Reports in Pulmonology

All submissions of the EM system will be redirected to Online Manuscript Submission System. Authors are requested to submit articles directly to Online Manuscript Submission System of respective journal.
Reach Us +44-1518-081136

Short Communication - Research and Reports in Pulmonology (2021) Volume 2, Issue 2

Identification and validation of transcripts by RNA-sequencing lung tissue from patients with Idiopathics Pulmonary Fibrosis

 

 
Transcriptomic profiling in IPF has largely been performed by microarrays using RNA obtained from
whole lung lysates obtained from fresh frozen tissues. These studies have provided significant mechanistic
insights regarding IPF pathogenesis, and have largely impacted the field of lung fibrosis. However, these
studies are limited because acquisition of fresh frozen tissues is only available in highly specialized
academic centers with tissue banking facilities. Thus, the majority of studies contain mostly tissues
explanted from patients with IPF at the time of biopsy, and studies containing tissues obtained from
diagnostic biopsies are limited. Additionally, it is nearly impossible to assess the lung morphology on
frozen tissue, thus the studies utilizing fresh frozen samples depend on histological assessment of adjacent
tissue which may or may not contain the exact same pathology. While transcriptomic data generated
from different dissections within a single lobe of the lung are highly correlated, and that transcriptomic
data correlates well with UIP pattern itself the lack of visual confirmation of the histology of the region
profiled is still considered a limitation RNA isolated from Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded FFPE
tissues is partially degraded, thus transcriptomic analysis of FFPE tissues was considered challenging.
Several recent studies demonstrated that transcriptomic analysis of FFPE tissues using microarrays was
possible, was nearly comparable to fresh frozen tissues but still had significant limitations. In contrast to
microarrays, next generation RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) allows for relatively unbiased measurements
of expression levels across the entire length of a transcript and its level of expression, and therefore may
be more suitable for sequencing of partially degraded FFPE RNA. Transcriptomic analysis of FFPE
tissues by RNA-Seq demonstrates high concordance to RNA-Seq data produced from matching fresh
frozen tissues. Because formalin fixation and paraffin embedding are routinely done on all samples from
clinically indicated lung biopsies, optimization of a method to perform genome scale transcript profiling
of archived FFPE tissues will greatly enhance the access to IPF lungs. In this study, we sought to determine
whether whole transcriptomic analysis of RNA isolated from FFPE biopsies by RNA-Seq was feasible
in IPF, and whether the results are comparable to those obtained from gene expression microarrays. To
test our hypothesis, we isolated RNA from FFPE lung biopsies of IPF individuals and controls, generated
RNA-Seq expression data and compared it to publically available microarray array data previously
generated by us from fresh frozen IPF lung tissues Our study demonstrates high concordance in IPF
relevant genes and pathways between RNA-Seq and microarrays of un-paired tissues from patients
evaluated in different cohorts, suggesting that RNA-Seq from FFPE tissues could be considered an
acceptable technique for transcriptomic profiling in IPF.
Author(s): Muhammed Amir Essibayi,

Abstract PDF

Get the App