Blood genomic responses differ after stroke, seizures, hypoglycemia, and hypoxia: Blood genomic fingerprints of disease

Using microarray technology, we investigated whether the gene expression pr ofile in white blood cells could be used as a fingerprint of different dise ase states. Adult rats were subjected to ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic stro kes, sham surgeries, kainate-induced seizures, hypoxia, or insulin-induced hypoglycemia, and compared with controls. The white blood cell RNA expressi on patterns were assessed 24 hours later using oligonucleotide microarrays. Results showed that many genes were upregulated or downregulated at least twofold in white blood cells after each experimental condition. Blood genom ic response patterns were different for each condition. These results demon strate the potential of blood gene expression profiling for diagnostic, mec hanistic, and therapeutic assessment of a wide variety of disease states.