BioProject

The accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) results in the condition called “ER stress” which induces the unfolded protein response (UPR) which is a complex cellular process that includes changes in expression of many genes. More...

The accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) results in the condition called “ER stress” which induces the unfolded protein response (UPR) which is a complex cellular process that includes changes in expression of many genes. Failure to restore homeostasis in the ER is associated with human diseases. To identify the underlying changes in gene expression in response to ER stress, we induced ER stress in human B-cells and then measured gene expression at 10 time-points. We followed up those results by studying cells from 60 unrelated people. We rediscovered genes that were known to play a role in ER stress response and uncovered several thousand genes that are not known to be involved. Two of these are VLDLR and INHBE which showed significant increase in expression following ER stress in B-cells and in primary fibroblasts. To study the links between unfolded protein response and disease susceptibility, we identified ER stress responsive genes that are associated with human diseases and assessed individual differences in ER stress response. Many of the UPR genes are associated with Mendelian disorders such as Wolfram syndrome and complex human diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and diabetes. Data from two independent samples showed extensive individual variability in ER stress response. Additional analyses with monozygotic twins revealed significant correlations within twin pairs in their responses to ER stress thus showing evidence for heritable variation among individuals. These results have implications for basic understanding of ER function and its role in disease susceptibility. Keywords: array-based gene expression Overall design: We measured gene expression levels in immortalized B cells from members of 60 unrelated CEPH-Utah grandparents. Each individual was treated for 8 hours with either DMSO or with 4 ug/ml of tunicamycin. Gene expression was measured to identify tunicamycin-responsive genes. To assess whether there is a genetic component to the individual variation in gene expression response to ER stress, we used microarrays to measure expression of genes in 26 monozygotic twin pairs treated with either DMSO or 500 nM thapsigargin for 4 hours. Less...