epidermal-growth-factor and Immune-System-Diseases

Genome-wide analyses such as DNA microarray, RNA sequencing and RNA interference-based high-throughput screening are prevalent to decipher a biological process of interest, and provide a large quantity of data to be processed. An ultimate goal for researchers must be extrapolation of their data to human diseases. We have conducted functional genome-wide screenings to elucidate molecular mechanisms of the inflammation amplifier, a NFκB/STAT3-dependent machinery that potently drives recruitment of immune cells to promote inflammation. Using a public database of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we recently reported the reverse-direction method by which our mass screening data were successfully linked to many human diseases. As an example, the epiregulin-epidermal growth factor receptor pathway was identified as a regulator of the inflammation amplifier, and associated with human diseases by GWAS. In fact, serum epiregulin levels were higher in patients with chronic inflammatory disorders. The reverse-direction method can be a useful tool to narrow mass data down to focus on human disease-related genes.

Topics: Animals; Cell Movement; Epidermal Growth Factor; Epiregulin; ErbB Receptors; Genome-Wide Association Study; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humans; Immune System Diseases; Inflammation Mediators; Mass Screening; NF-kappa B; Signal Transduction; STAT3 Transcription Factor; Translational Research, Biomedical