Pathognomonic genetic expression profile within peripheral blood mononuclear cells of rheumatic heart disease patients

Abstract

The present study was addressed to understand as to how the expression of genes, that play crucial role in both inflammation and autoimmune process, within blood mononuclear cells are effected by the molecular mimicry between streptococcal antigen and heart tissue recognized as main contributor towards the genesis of rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Such a study for the first time revealed that as compared to genomic profile within normal blood mononuclear cells, the cells derived from rheumatic heart disease patients exhibited significantly higher expression of genes coding for IL-8, IFN-gamma and CX3CR1 coupled with significant downregulation of CD36 mRNA expression. Based upon these results, we propose that maintenance of such a pathognomonic transcriptome within blood mononuclear cells may be responsible for the initiation and progression of rheumatic heart disease.