Individuality and variation in gene expression patterns in human blood

The nature and extent of interindividual and temporal variation in gene expression patterns in specific cells and tissues is an important and relatively unexplored issue in human biology. We surveyed variation in gene expression patterns in peripheral blood from 75 healthy volunteers by using cDNA microarrays. Characterization of the variation in gene expression in healthy tissue is an essential foundation for the recognition and interpretation of the changes in these patterns associated with infections and other diseases, and peripheral blood was selected because it is a uniquely accessible tissue in which to examine this variation in patients or healthy volunteers in a clinical setting. Specific features of…

• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• EM
  Ellison Medical Foundation
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NC
  National Cancer Institute
• NI
  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases