sex-related differences in gene expression following coxiella burnetii infection in mice potential role of circadian rhythm与性有关的基因表达的差异后,伯纳特氏立克次氏体感染小鼠昼夜节律的潜在作用.pdfVIP

Sex-Related Differences in Gene Expression Following Coxiella burnetii Infection in Mice: Potential Role of Circadian Rhythm 1,2 1,2 1 1 1,2 1 Julien Textoris , Leang Heng Ban , Christian Capo , Didier Raoult , Marc Leone , Jean-Louis Mege * ´ ´ ´ 1 Unite de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses Tropicales et Emergentes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Unite Mixte de Recherche 6236, Faculte de ´ ´ ´ ˆ ˆ ´ ´ ´ Medecine, Marseille, France, 2 Service d’anesthesie et de reanimation, Hopital Nord, Assistance Publique – Hopitaux de Marseille, Universite de la Mediterranee, Marseille, France Abstract Background: Q fever, a zoonosis due to Coxiella burnetii infection, exhibits sexual dimorphism; men are affected more frequently and severely than women for a given exposure. Here we explore whether the severity of C. burnetii infection in mice is related to differences in male and female gene expression profiles. Methodology/Principal Findings: Mice were infected with C. burnetii for 24 hours, and gene expression was measured in liver cells using microarrays. Multiclass analysis identified 2,777 probes for which expression was specifically modulated by C. burnetti infection. Only 14% of the modulated genes were sex-independent, and the remaining 86% were differentially expressed in males and females. Castration of males and females showed that sex hormones were responsible for more than 60